Ace Combat: Shattered Rose
by Spartastic 4
Summary: Ruby Rose. A girl with shattered memories is found by the Federation of Central Usea. When offered a second chance at life from the people who saved her, she takes to the skies. With War looming on the horizon, she takes to the fight to keep peace for her new home, but that past always has a way of catching up.
1. Prologue

**Quick disclaimer RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth/Mounty Oum (may he rest in peace) and Ace Combat to Bandai Namco. I own nothing aside from my own plot devices and OCs.**

* * *

 **LOCATION: UNKNOWN**

 **DATE: UNKNOWN**

 **TIME: UNKNOWN**

The first thing she felt as she was regaining her senses was that her head was killing her. It felt as if something had split her head open and took an eggbeater to her brain to try and make scrambled eggs.

As she sat up she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. The first thing that she noticed was that it was night time, wherever she was, and that she was in a lush green forest. The leaves were still on the trees themselves and were glistening in the moonlight from some condensation that had accumulated in the night air.

Then the smell of smoke entered her nose. She looked around a bit in a panic to see if there was a fire anywhere but notices none close by nor in the distance. And that's when she noticed the area around her burnt black.

The burnt area was exactly two meters in diameter and was a perfect circle. _That's not weird at all_ , she sarcastically thought. She decided that it was best to leave the area before whatever caused this decided to return.

She tried to stand up to try and walk away, but as soon as she stood she felt extremely light headed and nearly fell back down. She had to brace herself against a tree to stop herself from falling and at the same time she placed her other hand against her head as a wave of dull pain assaulted her.

After a few moments the pain receded and so did the dizziness. That was when she felt her hand on her head was touching something sticky. When she removed her hand to see what was on it, her mind went blank.

 _...Blood... Is this mine?_ Her mind started to race as several questions started to pop into her head. Where was she? What happened to her? Why was she bleeding? Where was her tea-

 _...My... team?..._ A wave of pain assaults her head again, but a different pain than the one from earlier. While the earlier pain had more of a dull, pushing a bruise type pain, this pain felt more like her brain was going to burst from something. A feeling like there should be something there but was forcefully ripped out by a surgical grenade in her head.

"AaAaAAAAAHhhHhhhHHAAAAAA!" She couldn't bear the pain anymore and released a scream that she felt matches what she was feeling.

As she did that, she failed to notice lights that were approaching her. That the ones holding the lights were a group of men in military uniforms that were searching for something.

As the group approached the source of the scream the squad leader moved his hand up and signaled for the squad to stop. He reached for his radio to activate his mic and moved his head slightly to make a clear transmission. "Command, Bloodhound Actual," a deep raspy voice came from the man.

" _Go ahead Bloodhound Actual,_ " a slightly garbled male voice came through.

"We're approaching the source of the anomaly and we just heard the scream of a girl. We were told this was a controlled area."

" _Bloodhound Actual, can you repeat that? Did you just say a girl?_ "

"Affirmative Command."

" _Stand-by_."

A few seconds go by in silence as the squad waits in silence.

" _Bloodhound Actual, Command_."

"Go ahead Command."

"You have a new objective Bloodhound. Secure the girl if possible along with the site of the anomaly. Let us know if you need anything else."

"10-4 Command, WillCo." Bloodhound Actual raised his hand and signaled for the squad to keep moving forward.

Within a minute they found a small clearing that had a burnt circle and a girl, possibly a young woman, screaming in pain in the middle of the circle. The most noticeable feature about her was that she was wearing a red cloak that was wrapped around her collar bone attached around by a metallic rose emblem on her side. She was a fair skinned and had black, short, stylized hair that reached the tops of her shoulders and gradually turned red towards the tips if her hair. A leathery black corset was around her waist, a white colored blouse, and a black skirt that seemed to have a red underskirt attached to it.

But none of that really mattered to the soldiers right now because they noticed that she had a severe head wound that seemed to be the most likely cause of her pain. Bloodhound Actual was fast to act and immediately reached for his radio as soon as he saw this while another man went over and started to perform emergency aid to the girl. "Command, Bloodhound Actual. We found the girl and are in immediate need of a MEDIVAC. She has a severe head wound and could possibly die of blood loss."

 _"Roger that Bloodhound Actual, ETA 5 mikes out. Is there anything strange in the area_?"

Bloodhound Actual looked around from his squad who were securing the perimeter around the girl, the scorched ground the girl was in, and finally the tree line to see if there was anything that caused this to the girl.

"Negative Command. Only scorched ground."

 _"Roger that. Keep the area clear until the MEDIVAC arrives._ "

"10-4"

To the girl the man seemed to be speaking gibberish. She couldn't understand him whatsoever. The one who was treating her had injected her with something and it was starting to make her drowsy now and she was carefully put onto her back as the man treated her head.

Before the the drowsiness completely took her to the land of dreams she saw the moon in the night sky. She only had one thought to seeing its beautiful glow against the darkness. _...Why... isn't it... shat...tered...?..._

* * *

 **Alright so, this is my first fic so I can improve alot with input from you guys. Constructive criticism help and not just bashing. So please read and review to your heaets content:**

 **But one thing I need to tell you guys is that the world of Remnant isn't the same as the canon one. Ruby still got into Beacon at 15, but the Fall hasn't happened yet. Teams RWBY and JNPR are in their third year, not third semester as some people think that that means year. Anywho in this Remnant Cinder is enacting her plans, albiet at a much slower pace than canon.**

 **I just wanted to let you guys know because we won't be back there for a while.**

 **Last thing before I go, due to what I do I won't have a laptop for several months and only my phone. Any weird formatting issues will be because of that. I'll due my best to update either weekly or bi-weekly for a semi-solid schedule but it may become sporadic at times. I apologize in advance.**


	2. Chapter 1: Questions

**LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER MILITARY HOSPITAL, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 3 JUNE 2002**

 **TIME: 0638**

"What do you mean by that Agent Wellington?" An irritated male voice asked a dark skinned man in a black business like suit.

"It means as I have said Lieutenant General Monro," Agent Wellington replied to the tanned man. "She doesn't exist. All the tests we ran, facial recognition, DNA tests, even citizenship registry, all turned up negative on the results." He wanted to let out an exhausted sigh, but his professionalism wouldn't allow him to.

General Monro on the other hand did let out a sigh as he hung his head for a moment in deep thought. When he brought his head back up he turned it towards a window that peered into another room.

Within that room held a girl, with one hand handcuffed to the side of a hospital bed and various machines and an IV drip hooked up to her. She was guarded by two members of the Bloodhounds that had found her twenty-three hours ago. The leader of the Bloodhounds suggested that they guard since she might want to see some familiar(ish) faces when she woke up, not at all having to do with the fact that they for some reason wanted to protect her. The girl was small in build and had a well developed chest. Her skin was fair but was easy to see the lean, toned muscles that she had developed. She had a bit of an angular face that still held hints of baby fat, giving her an appearance of a young woman almost finished with her adolescence with a bandage wrapped across the top of her head.

She was beautiful in appearance and made the General have a sad look on his face. _She looks to be around my own daughters age... Who could do that to a girl this young?_

While General Monro was deep in thought about who would do this, a third voice spoke up. "Sir," the voice belonged to a full grown woman. "While my partner and I have found no evidence as to who she is, we have found some rather... _interesting_ other details about her."

The General turned his attention towards a woman who had fair skin, green eyes, and dirty blonde colored hair that was done up in a bun. Much like her partner, she also wore a black suit and looked like she belonged to a business corporation rather than the military.

"Please explain Agent Shepard," Monro asked actually curious as to what they found.

"Well first and foremost," the newly dubbed Agent Shepard began. "Her hair naturally transitions from black at the roots to red at the tips."

Monro stared at her for a second before what she said processed in his head. Her hair _naturally_ transitions. No one in all of Strangereal had hair that transitioned the way the girls did.

"I see that you noticed," Shepard also turned her gaze to the girl. "When we ran the DNA tests we confirmed that her DNA strands are slightly different than ours."

"Are you suggesting that someone _genetically modified_ this girl?" Monro was on the verge of bursting with anger and was clenching his fists tight enough for others to hear. Genetically modifing embryos went against international law. To force a fate onto someone when they didn't even have a _choice_ in the matter, it made his blood boil.

"Sir," Agent Wellington spoke up again. "We are not suggesting that she is a test tube baby or that someone spliced DNA into hers. We don't have all the facts yet, the only one who does is the girl herself."

Even though both Special Agents tried their best to try and keep up their professional face, they couldn't help but be disgusted by the fact of what she could've been through if she was a product of a science experiment and only treated as one and not as an actual child.

General Monro took a moment to recompose himself before speaking again. "I guess that we'll have to wait for her to wake than."

"The next peculiar thing about her are the items she came with..."

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER MILITARY HOSPITAL, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 3 JUNE 2002**

 **TIME: 0825**

The morning sun raised over the mountains to give sunlight into the for the inhabitants below. But for one girl in particular, the sunlight went through the blinds in her room and landed onto her face stirring her awake.

She grumbled as she turned to face away from the sun. There was a knock on her door and she was _not_ happy whatsoever. Who dared disturb her sleep? But she was too tired to get angry anymore so she just simply said, "Five more minutes..."

Ignoring what she said, the one who knocked entered anyways. _Ugh fine... I'll get up now._ Silver eyes fluttered open to face the new occupants in... her... hospital room. _Why am I..._ It took her a moment to remember the events of last night. _Right, someone found me last night. Guess they must've taken me here._

She took a look at the three that had entered the room. One was a woman, so she felt a bit safet with her around, and the other two were men who looked old enough to be her grandpa and dad, respectively.

When she noticed the one old enough to be her dad a light clicked in her head and noticed his somewhat familiar face from last night. He was wearing a woodland pattern BDU in full combat gear. She couldn't tell his hair color, but judging from the stubble on his face she guessed it was brown. His skin was tanned from the sun and his light brown eyes gave him a tired look on him, but not tired physically.

"Ummm... Thank you very much for helping me last night. You guys really saved my bacon." She gave a slight bow with a light blush on her face towards Bloodhound Actual.

It was at that point that the three occupants in her room found a major problem. Brigadier General Monro, Special Agent Shepard, and Bloodhound Actual couldn't understand a single word of what the girl spoke.

When she raised her head she had question marks floating above her head as she saw the looks on their faces. "Is there something wrong?" She innocently tilted her head.

* * *

After a few hours of some crudely drawn, and in the girls case somewhat cute, pictures to communicate, she finally learned where she was and who the people in front of her were.

The older of the two men was name Monro, a Lieutenant General for the country of the Federation of Central Usea. He was roughly fifty-five years old but the years were not too kind to him for he looked older than he actually was. His mostly white hair was kept short, as if it was always in military regulations. He was the Commander of the base she was currently on.

The woman referred to herself as Special Agent Shepard. That was about all she was told from the older woman, but she seemed to be around her late twenties, early thirties. The way she held herself slightly intimated the girl, but she figured that it was only because of being in front of the General.

The man who helped her last night was a leader of the group, known as Bloodhound, was named Harken Steel. He is a Staff Sergeant in the Federations Army branch. What caught her attention the most about him was the gun he was holding. There was just something about it that was drawing her eyes toward it, like if she took it apart she would find out about the mysteries of the Universe.

Monro coughed to catch the young girls attention who was star eyed from looking at a simple standard issue rifle. She blushed at the fact that she was caught staring. For the past little bit they had been telling the girl about themselves and Monro was thinking it was about time to tell about herself.

He looked over to Steel, since admittedly he was the best artist among the three of them, and gave a slight nod to him. Steel knew what he was asking for and took to the paper that they had been using to try and ask the girl for her name.

When she saw and interpreted what they wanted, which took a full minute, she raised her hand as if to exclaim who she was but paused. Her facial expression was frozen in mid expression. Monro, Shepard, and Steel all shared a look wondering what she was going to say.

She grabbed at her head as she tried as hard as she could to think of her name.

 _Why can't I remember my name?_ She was starting to get frustrated at not being able to remember her name. She decided to try and see if she could remember _anything_ else about herself. Panic soon set in as she couldn't remember anything about herself.

Her breathing started to become shorter and faster as she started to hyperventilate. The same head splitting pain from last night started to assault her again. Her heart rate started to spike and the machines attached to her were beeping widely. She clutched her head in between her hands as she doubled over in her pain.

Doctors and nurses raced in to try and calm the girl down, which they failed at doing so they put a sedative in her IV line to almost instantly get her to fall back asleep.

As the world started to go black around her, all she could think about was one thing.

 _Who am I?_

* * *

 **Hey everybody, sorry for the double email I was experimenting with the app.**

 **Anywho, the reason why Ruby had th whole "who am I" break down at the end of the chapter is simple. Up until the point where they "asked" who she was, she didn't have a reason to think about who she was.**

 **Kinda like how we wake up and don't think about who we are each morning, we just know and have automatic responses when asked for out names. So when that automatic response didn't come to her, she had to think of what her name was and we saw the result of that.**

 **And as a last note before I go, I know my writing style can improve past this whole "seems to be more of a summary writing," so please help me out with a review.**

 **Also would like it if I could get a Beta to hep me out.**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	3. Chapter 2: Scroll of Answers

**LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER MILITARY HOSPITAL, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 3 JUNE 2002**

 **TIME: 1338**

The Doctor had just left the girls room and approached Special Agents Shepard and Wellington. Lieutenant General Monro and Staff Sergeant Steel both had work to get back to, while for the Agents the girl was their current assignment.

The Doctor looked at her clipboard before she started to speak to the Agents. "Physically, her head is healing better than fine, but mentally is where the problem is at."

Wellington had a look of curiosity on his face. "Better than fine Doctor?" That phrase caught his attention at the moment while for Shepard, she was paying attention to the latter half more than the former, since her partner was doing that.

"The way she is healing is at a much faster rate than anyone else I have seen. Her head wound should have taken at _least_ a week and a half to start scabbing and start to close. In less than forty-eight hours she has not only started to scab but also nearly healed with minimal scarring."

The Doctor flipped through a few pages until she came to a page with pictures of CT scans of the girls brain on them. "And as I said, mentally is where the real problem is," she showed them the CT pictures and pointed to the lower region of her brain. "These are from when we did the CAT scan after we treated her last night. The Medial Temporal Lobe, the region of the brain having to deal with memory, was severely damaged."

"So what you're saying," Agent Shepard began. "Is that she lost her memory." She said it more as if she was stating a fact rather than an actual question.

"That would be correct," the Doctor said as she let out a tired sigh. "The best way to try and start the process for regaining them, _if_ they can be regained, is to expose her to some stimuli like objects that hold value."

"Thank you Doctor," Shepard said honestly before she sharpened her gaze. "And remember, all information on this girl is on a Need-to-Know basis."

"Yea, yea I remember." The Doctor turned and waved her hand goodbye.

After the Doctor was out of earshot Wellington asked, "Do you wanna make the call? Or do you want me to do it?"

"Please, if you could. And if you could, ask if we can get her stuff. I have a feeling that that small device will help."

"I gotchu." Wellington made his way to the desk if to ask if he could use a phone while Shepard left the building to go back to their office.

* * *

"Excuse me, ma'am."

A plump, middle aged civilian woman looks up from her computer screen to the person who was addressing her. She knew who it was when she looked up. It was one of those Special Agent people who had been gossiped about in the hospital lately. But that's none of her business as to why they were here.

"How can I help you sir?" She put on her best customer service smile.

Wellington returned her smile with one of his own. "I was wondering if I could get a phone with a secure line?"

"Of course you can sir. Just a moment please." She then pressed a button on her desk and a loud buzzer was heard. After a moment a door off to the the left of her desk opened up with a young enlisted man holding it open for Wellington to walk through. "The Private here will show you to your phone."

"Thank you ma'am." Wellington entered the door and waited for the Private to close the door behind them.

It was a short, silent walk to the room that Wellington needed to go to but he didn't mind at all. The Private entered a code onto the door lock and let Wellington inside.

The room was simple. Blue and white tiles on the floor with the walls being white. Along the walls were several phones that were mounted to the wall with a small ledge beneath it and a divider between each one to give a sense of privacy. A few people were scattered in the room but not enough were there to make it crowded.

Wellington walked up to an empty phone that was away from everyone else and entered in the number to call General Monro. He punched in the number and waited through a few seconds of ringing.

" _Lieutenant General Monros' office_ ," his secretary answered. " _This is Karen speaking, how may I help you?_ "

"This is Special Agent Wellington, I was told by the General to contact him at this time." Wellington had no need to tell this secretary as for why he was actually calling.

" _Please wait a moment._ "

After a few seconds of silence a familiar voice came out of the receiver. " _Talk to me Wellington."_ It appeared that he wanted to cut through the bull shit and get straight to the point.

"Seems the girl has Amnesia." Wellington replied by getting right at the heart of the matter.

" _Amnesia?_ "

"Yea, according to the Doc the part of the brain having to deal with memory was damaged enough to make her lose her memories." Wellington gave a pause to let the information sink in before he continued. "She also that an external stimuli could trigger her memories to come back. Shepard wanted permission to access the girls stuff to get that device."

" _Seems like we'll have to wait for that technology then..._ " Monro let out an audible sight into the phone. " _Well good things come to those who wait. I'll send an email to you sections head about giving Shepard access to the items. Now if you'll excuse me I have some paperwork that I'd rather not let pile up._ "

And with that Monro hung up.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER JOINT OFFICE OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 3 JUNE 2002**

 **TIME: 1401**

Shepard stepped out of the government vehicle she was using. She was back at her office, in which was a small compound of a few buildings that all branches of the military use for their criminal investigations, to retrieve a small device that the girl had carried with her. Each branch was suppose to have its own building at different locations on base, but this is the military and that would make too much sense. The building she was in front of was plain looking design and came in a tan coloring. The only thing that was decorating it were the numbers that designated what building number it was.

She entered the building and was greeted with the normal sight of metal detectors and an x-ray machine to check bags. A common place security measure for them but annoying nonetheless.

After she got through the security, Shepard went straight to her boss's office. Once she was in front if the door, she knocked to be polite, and waited for her boss to give the Okay.

"Come in," a gruff voice from behind the door said.

Shepard opened the door to reveal a middle aged man whose fiery red hair was starting to slowly turn white. He had a crooked nose and dark green eyes. His skin was slightly pale, since he didn't do field work much anymore, but was still in good shape.

The man looks up from his desk to see who entered this office. When he noticed it was Shepard, he reached under his desk and pulled out a cardboard box.

"The eggheads were just about to grab this when I went in to grab it." He gestured for Shepard to take the box. "Luckily for you though, I showed them the Generals email that he sent."

"Thank you sir." Shepard walked over and was about to pick up the box when a hand slammed down on it.

"Shepard," her boss stared straight in her eyes. "This technology is years ahead anything we currently have. The eggheads wanna take it apart and reproduce it as soon as they get their hands on it."

Shepard only nodded and kept silent because she felt that he wasn't done yet.

"We're taking a gamble by giving this back to the girl. Make sure that we're able to get something out of this. The General gave permission to do _anything_ so we can get that. Clear?"

"Crystal." Her boss removed his hand and Shepard picked it up to leave his office. As she was doing so sue had her own thought on the matter to mull over. _So they pretty much want to win her trust, but currently we don't know enough about her to do that..._ Shepard was lost in her own thoughts and automatically left the building and got into her car. It's gonna wied and a bit detestable to take advantage of a child, but if we can help our people it's worth it.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER MILITARY HOSPITAL, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 3 JUNE 2002**

 **TIME: 1425**

The girl had been sitting in her room for the past little bit, not wanting to be bothered by anyone. She just wanted to think of who she was and now who she wasn't. She laid down on her bed with her hands behind her head and just stared at the ceiling.

 _It's weird..._ she thought solemnly. _It feels like I have a blank ticket to go anywhere and do anything, but at the same time I'm stuck because I don't know anything._ The girl let out a sight thinking that the first thing she should learn is the language these people speak, since clearly she wasn't a local.

 _But even if I do learn the language, how would I know where I came from or if I even want to go back._ This thought saddened the girl because if she decided not to go back she would be abandoning the family and friends she may or may not have/had. The thought of abandoning people who may have been close to her made her heart ache for some reason. The loneliness that came from abandonment isn't something people are able to bounce back from easily. Maybe I was abandoned and that's why it's making my heart feel bad. _But if I was abandoned, I don't think I wanna find out._

There was a knock at her door. She looked towards her door and thought about answering, but decided against it. _They'll probably just walk in anyw- aaand she just did._ A small frown appeared on her face. I swear I have no privacy here.

Agent Shepard had indeed not waited for a reply before walking into the girls room with a cardboard box. The girl was now really curious as to what was inside of it as all sorts of thoughts popped up as to what could be inside. _MAYBE IT'S A PUPPY!_ And so she got herself excited for a puppy that may not be there.

Shepard set the box down, removed the top, and rummaged through it. _There goes it being a puppy,_ the girl thought as a frown set in again. Shepard pulled something out of the box and tossed it to the girl. The girl caught it and looked at what was thrown to her.

It was a small, thin device that was primarily red with black accents. On one side of it was a large yellow diamond in the center of it, while on the otherside was a black emblem of a rose that looked to be painted on. _This looks familiar somehow..._

The girl looked back up to Shepard for any clue as to what this device was and when all she got was a blank stare, the girl decided to fiddle around with it. With what seemed to be habit, she opened the device up and revealed a two-way holographic display that said ' **Password**.' Before the girl even knew what she was doing, she entered a six digit pin and the display shifted into a multitude of tiles and folders.

The girl was in awe of what just happened, because she had no clue as to what she even did. She just kinda did it like she had been for years. A cough from Shepard took her out of her stupor and she blushed lightly in embarrassment. _I'll have time to think later, let's see what I can find._

And so the girl looked to see what was displayed on the screen and her eyes widened at one folder and one tile in particular. The folder, which her finger was hovering over said ' **Photos** ,' while the tile said ' **ID**.' She was hesitant to open either one. One held information about who she was, while the other showed who she was with, where she was from, and what she has seen and done. In all honesty she was scared a bit.

She bit on her lip as she tried to make a decision on which one to open first and chose to go with the tile that said ' **ID** ' on it. It's probably better to have a name first. Right? And so she touched down on the holographic display.

What appeared in front of her was a picture of her on it, in a horizontal fashion. Short black hair that transitioned to red, fair skin, silver eyes that stared back at her, and a goofy smile from ear to ear. The information on the ID of who she was was displayed next to the picture.

 **Name: Ruby Rose**

 **Age: 18**

 **DoB: 65 PGW**

The list went on for a bit longer but she stopped paying attention to it after the first few lines. She had found her name.

Her. Name.

The one thing that had been given to her at her birth. The one thing that people would call her at first. The one that held more meaning than people care to know.

"Ruby... Rose..." she said in almost a whisper. Saying just sounded right to her and just rolled off the tongue naturally.

But of course Agent Shepard looked at her when she whispered her name. Shepard didn't quite hear what she said, but she didn't have to. Ruby looked up at her with the widest smile she had ever seen and was practically bouncing in her hospital bed.

"My name! I found out my name!" Ruby had forgotten that Shepard couldn't understand her, but Ruby pointed to herself anyway. "Ruby Rose! My name i-"

Suddenly a deafening roar cut off all conversation. Ruby had to cover her ears the noise was so loud, although Shepard didn't because she was used to this. She looked towards the window, since that's where the noise was coming from, to see what was making the noise.

What she saw made her go star eyed.

A fighter that was sleek and smooth. It had clipped delta wings with a reverse sweep on the rear, four tail surfaces, and twin engines. This plane was the F-22 Raptor. A tactical stealth fighter jet.

She didn't know much about planes, but she felt like she had to fly that type of plane. Any and all thoughts were thrown out the window as she just watched the fighter take off.

And as for Agent Shepard, she just smirked for she had found out a way to let the newly dubbed Ruby and herself to get what they both want.

 _Now_ , Shepard thought. _First thing we need to do is teach her our language_.

* * *

 **Hey there everbody, I'm back with another chapter of Ace Combat: Shattered Rose. This is the longest chapter so far also. Sorry if the story seems a bit slow but I do want to build the world and not just have a 'oh, you're from another world... ok here's a plane to fly and kill with.'**

 **So in this chapter Ruby finally leanred her name YAAAHHH! But we also learn that the people who are helping are not just doing it out if the kidness of their heart, even if it was like that at first. Sometime people have to put the interest of their own people before anyone else, but this can cause conflict.**

 **Anywho, I had some more user error/techinal difficulties so apologies again. Please feel free to review or PM me if you have quistions.**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	4. Chapter 3: The Offer

**LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER EDUCATION CENTER, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 10 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1200**

Ruby's head hit the desk she was sitting at in hunger and defeat. _Finally_ , she thought to herself. _Time to eat._ The lesson in the Usean language just ended and she was hungry, but unfortunately she she wait for Agent Shepard to pick her up to so she can buy food for her, since she had no money and wasn't a member of their military to get food from the DFAC. But she had a few minutes to herself to think of why she was here in the first place.

The day after she had seen the F-22 they has started to give her lessons about the country she was now in. First it was just the language they spoke, ao that way they could _actually_ talk with each other. It surprised everyone, including Ruby herself, just how fast she was able to get the basics of the language. It might've also have been the fact that she had nothing else to do aside from studying and watching the planes all day. She was no native speaker yet but she could hold a basic conversation with someone as long as they didn't start using big words she didn't know.

After a little bit they also started to teach her some history of The Federation. Now _that_ took her some effort to learn. There were times that she wanted to fall asleep during those lessons but through some determination she pushed through it. During those times when she was almost asleep, Ruby could swear she saw a man with green hair instead of the tutor that was provided for her. She just put it as her just being tired and not seeing things properly.

And now she has a new subject that they wanted to test her knowledge in and found out that many aside from herself dread to take.

Math.

Once she had learned how to read and write the numbers, simple math was easy. But then came the math that had concepts that just had her eyes spinning in confusion. She couldn't even believe that numbers could be imaginary or real and still be in a math problem. And after all that confusion had ended, she had now just been released to eat and think while she waited.

 _I don't understand why they're doing this,_ Ruby began thinking to herself. _I mean it's nice of them to help me and all, but it's been a month._ She looked down at herself and what she was wearing. She was wearing a simple black t-shirt with a red skirt along with black leggings,black high top sneakers that had a star on the inner side of it, and a silver necklace that had a tilted cross that she was attracted to. The cloths were bought for her by Agent Shepard since she didn't have anything else to wear aside from what they found her in, which the haven't given back yet due to 'repairs.'

 _At least I have cloths on my back, food that they'll give me, and a house that they'll let me stay at,_ she sighed at the thought of how much of a worse condition she could be in. When Ruby was first discharged from the hospital, before the language classes, Harken Steel had volunteered to house her. He had put it as 'I already have a few kids, what's one more?' And so Ruby was staying with his family of his wife, three daughters, and a son.

While she was in her thoughts a black sedan pulled in front of the steps and rolled down its windows. Inside the sedan was Agent Shepard, in her usual get up of a black business like suit, who noticed that Ruby hadn't noticed her yet so she decided to what any reasonable adult would do.

She honked the horn.

"Uwwaaaahhh!" Ruby jumped a foot in the air and a hand instinctively reached to her back to grab for... something. Shepard let out a soft giggling that got Ruby's attention. "That's not funny!" She fumed and pouted before she angrily got into the car and slammed the door shut.

Gaining some more control over her giggling, Shepard started to drive the car away before she asked Ruby, "What do you want to eat?" Ruby, still being mad, was still pouting and looking out the window. Shepard decided to play with the girl a little bit more and just simply asked, "What about some cookies?"

This had an immediate effect on Ruby as she started to struggle to stay angry at the mention of cookies. Ever since she had discovered the mouth watering dessert, it had become an almost staple in her diet to the point that everyone had to try and regulate letting her have some so her teeth didn't rot.

"I-I guess cookies would be good..." Ruby replied while still trying, and failing, to be mad.

"After a proper meal we can get you a few cookies."

"A burger then."

And with that, Shepard drove to get them food.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER PARK, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 10 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1348**

Ruby and Shepard had finished their lunch and were now in a park that the children of the military families came to play at often. They were supposed to be relaxing before her last class began, but there was some tension in the air. Ruby had some cookies with her but wasn't eating any of then much to Shepards surprise.. Right when Shepard was about to ask if anything was wrong, Ruby spoke up first.

"Hey Shepard, can I ask you a question?" Ruby was staring straight ahead where some children were playing on the equipment.

Shepard found it a bit unusual that Ruby being serious, she had always seen her upbeat and very childlike, but in a good way. It almost made Shepard feel bad on what she was having to do.

 _Almost_.

"Aside from that one? Yes, you can ask me any question. And I will answer so long as I am able to."

Ruby went quiet and looked down, thinking of the right way to say what she wanted to. The more she thought though, the more she was staring to lose the confidence to ask. It had taken her this long to build the courage to ask and it might take her a long time again if she couldn't ask right now. That was when Ruby decided to just be straight forward about it.

"...why?..." Ruby asked in almost a whisper of a voice.

It was so quiet that Shepard almost missed it. Almost. "Why what?"

"Why are you guys doing this?" She started to grip the bench they were sitting on tightly. "... Helping me?" Her voice was trembling with fear a little bit, not knowing the reason that they wanted to help her. Whether it was out if the goodness if their hearts, or something much less... pleasant.

Shepard, on her part, was much calmer than she thought she would be. Agent Wellington, General Monro, and herself had already figured that Ruby would ask this at some point, not this soon, but nevertheless they had still gone over what was to be said to the girl.

"Ruby," she turned herself to look directly at the girl, even if Ruby wasn't looking at her. "Do remember us telling you about the meteor that hit Strangreal?"

Ruby nodded her head. It was an event that only took place a few years ago and was constantly mentioned on the news about the after effects and what each country was doing in relief efforts around the globe. There were refugees by the thousands and the death toll was in the millions. She had a slight idea where Shepard was going with this, but she didn't want to think that it was a possibility.

Shepard took a breath to prepare herself for the hardest possible part of gaining Ruby's trust. "When we found you, we had no idea who you were. We looked to see if you were from the Federation, but the results were negative on that," she paused to see how the girl would take it but only noticed that she was only sitting like a statue. Not moving a single inch, maybe not even breathing.

So, Shepard continued. "We weren't able to find anything about you within our capabilities,not even if you have a family." Ruby visibly tensed at the mention of her _possibly_ having/had a family. "So we thought it was possible you were... are a refugee." Shepard looked downward and she started to stare into the distance as she remembered back when Ulysses 1994XF04 brought untold devastation.

"Everyone lost something that day," her voice took on a much softer tone. "Friends. Loved ones. Life as some people knew. Some even lost the chance to have a family."

Ruby looked up at Shepard for the first time since this conversation began and noticed something. The woman in front of her, the woman who exudes professionalism and confidence in abundance... was tearing up. It took Ruby a second to figure out what Shepard had implied and when she did, a look of horror stretched across her face.

"Shepard! I-I'm sorry. I, I didn-"

"It's fine Ruby." Shepard places her hand on her lower abdomen. "It's in the past... it's still hard not hino about at times and the scars still remain, but for the most part I have come to terms with it."

There was a pause in the conversation. Ruby just felt a bit guilty and awkward at the information that she was just told. She didn't know what to say or do, so she just sat there and went to awkwardly staring at the ground. Shepard took a moment to recompose herself. She didn't mean to tell Ruby that, but it just came out when she remembered about what happened. And with one final calming breath, Shepard looked back up to continue where they were.

"Sorry to drop that on you," Ruby looked back up. "I didn't mean to get sidetracked either. But to continue what I was saying; we decided that since it seemed, to us, that you had nowhere to go that we would offer you a place here." Shepard grabbed her purse that was by her feet and pulled out a manila envelope that she handed to Ruby.

The young girl looked at it in curiosity before she looked back at Shepard, who gestured her to open it. Ruby slowly opened the envelope and took out the papers that were inside of it and saw some new words she didn't know. So, she sounded them out.

"W-War... ant? Waaarrranttt. Warrant?" She looked back up at Shepard who nodded her head at the correct pronunciation of the word. "Warrant... Officer... Program... **What is this**?" Ruby accidentally had slipped into her native tongue, a habit she had formed when she got frustrated with learning Usean. Or when she wanted to say something without anyone understanding her.

Even still, Shepard could tell by the look on Rubys' face that she was confused with what was given to her. "These papers are for our Aviation Warrant Officer Program."

"Aviation... Program..." Gears started to turn in Rubys' head as she started to piece a few things together as she read the papers. "You... want me... to fight... for you?"

"It's one way to gain citizenship." Shepard informed her.

"But why do you want me to fly?" Ruby was easily confused at this part. They had only known her for a _month_ , and they're offering to let her fly _multi-million_ dollar aircraft. That was not adding up in her head.

"I saw the way your eyes lit up when you first saw the F-22. And from what I have seen within the past month that you are a strong young woman who can accomplish what she puts her mind to."

Ruby was shocked by what Shepard had told her. _Has she really been paying that much attention to me?_ She thought to herself while also trying to think of another way to try and not accept this offer. Then she remembered some of the research she had done on being a pilot.

"Wouldn't I need a fancy college degree or something like that?"

"As the Warrant Officers say, 'from highschool to flight school.'" Shepard could see some gears turning in the young girls head and knew that all she needed was just one more push to get this to work. "All that's needed is a highschool degree to be a part of the program, hence the classes. Since officially your records are either destroyed or missing, we started to create a file for you."

Right as Ruby opened her mouth to try and speak, Shepard added in one last thing. "I've also heard how flying helps the pilots. That when they're up there," she motioned with her whole arm towards the blue horizon. "They can forget their worries on the ground and feel free... Or," Shepard paused and Ruby looked up to her once again. "It can help in other ways."

"Other ways?" That had the red headed girl curious as to what the older woman ment.

"I'm not going to claim I have all the answers Ruby. But there are plenty of young men and women who, much like yourself, join the military because they are lost on what to do with their lives. They want a sense of purpose or direction and they join. Sometimes they stay in for their whole career, while others found what they are truly passionate about."

Ruby was truly at a loss for words. Had the woman who she was speaking with truly seen through her? Had she known that Ruby didn't know what to do with her life?... would this really give her some direction in her new life that was like a dark landscape that had no path on it?

"Take your time Ruby, I'm not expecting an answer right away," Shepard had a motherly tone when she said this. And it struck something within Ruby and an image of a woman wearing a white cloak overlapped with Shepard's.

"Ruby?" Shepard had genuine concern in her voice. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" It was at that point that Ruby felt her cheek felt wet. And once she noticed it, the tears just couldn't stop. And then she felt Shepard embrace her into a hug after she began to cry. "I-I don't get w-why I'm crying."

Shepard just decided to let the girl cry in her arms. She would cancel the class that she had for the afternoon and just let Ruby have some rest. For little did they both know that it was at this point in Ruby's life that everything changed. And for the life of those who serve is not an easy, nor a glory filled life.

* * *

 **Hello and apologies everyone, things got a bit hectic at work with shit happeneing because of miscommunication and boss man comming down on us grunts. Not a good thing.**

 **Now then, *looks into the crowd* I see we have a few new faces to join us in this tale of mine. Welcome I say, and i hope you do stay.**

 **So as you can see there was a bit of a tome skip here, I want to get to the point where Ruby joins and flies, but I don't want to rush it either. I want it to try and be natural about the transition into it.**

 **We also see some of the inner struggles that Ruby is having. Like just why they are helping her and a bit of some possible abandonment issues that met or may not stem from Summer's death.**

 **And to leave on a happy note... this chaper was 2501 words long YAAAAAY! (*︶*) and that's not counting this author's note.**

 **but either way please read and review**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	5. Chapter 4: The Nightmare

_All she could see around her was a snow covered landscape with trees everywhere around her. Even though it was clearly snowing, she didn't feel cold at all. She looked down and saw that she was wearing what Harken Steel had found her in, a bright red, hooded cloak. It felt warm, safe, and most importantly it gave her confidence. She felt as though as long as she wore this cloak, nothing could bring her down._

 _She looked up and in the night sky hung a broken moon and in a way, it brought her a sense of comfort. The moon in Strangereal was whole and brought her some discomfort, like it shouldn't be whole, but this moon felt familiar like it has always been this way._

 _There was the sound of crunching snow off in the distance that brought her gaze back to the forest around her. It was quiet, deathly so and the darkness that lingered just beyond the treeline did little to put her back at ease. She reached behind her for something. Something that was supposed to be there but wasn't and it just put her on edge even more. After a moment of nothing happening, she decided to start walking with direction in mind but towards the path that just seemed to be calling her._

 _And so she walked... and walked... and walked... and walked._

 _The path she took just seemed to be going on forever. No end in sight, all of it looking the same, no indication to tell how much time has passed since she began to walk, and the only noise being made was the sound of her boots crunching on the snow she walked._

 _It was driving her mad._

 _And that's when she heard it. It was faint, dismily so, but it was just loud enough for her to hear it. So, she picked up her pace and began to run towards the direction of the noise she heard. Every stride brought her closer. Every breath pumped more oxygen into her lungs. Her body was telling her should go faster, that she could go faster. All she needed to do was to use her... her... WHAT WAS HER BODY TELLING HER TO USE?!_

 _This wasn't the first time that she felt like she_ could _go faster. Whenever she ran, she pushed herself to her limit but she still felt like she wasn't going top speed. Like all she needed to do was feel for something within her. Grab something an-_

 _"Finally!" She exclaimed as the trees started to thin out and an opening came into view. When the trees cleared she was greeted to an open path of snow that was on a cliff side against water and a single door close to the edge. It was a simple white door in design and had a golden knob on it._

 _Curious, she started to walk towards it. As she got closer, she could hear the noise better. It turned out the noise was laughter, the laughter of women was behind the door. Now this had her truly curious. When she got up to the door she looked to the sides of it and saw nothing. Shen she looked behind it, she saw nothing. But the laughter was definitely coming from beyond the door. So she decided to try and open it thinking that maybe there was a speaker somehow attached to the door. She reached out and grabbed the knob of the door._

 _"Ruby."_

 _The voice made her whole body freeze when it spoke from behind her. It sounded familiar, like she should who it belong to bit she couldn't think of who it belonged to for the life of her._

 _Silver eyes turned around to see a female figure in a white colored cloak, with the inside being red. A hood was covering the top of her face so she unable to tell how the figure looked. But something about the figure made her want to run over and embrace the figure into a hug. But instead she took a step back, her instincts telling her that something was off._

 _"Who... Who are you?" She asked the figure, but the figure ignored her question and didn't move._

 _"Why Ruby?" The figure came closer and her cloak billowed more in the nonexistent wind._

 _"W-Why what?" She took another step back and felt her back press against the door._

 _"Why did you forget about us Ruby?" Dark miasma started to come from underneath the cloak. "Why did you forget about me?" The voice the figure had was genuinely sad but was laced anger and betrayal._

 _"Who are you?!" She asked again and in doing so the figure frowned. More of the miasma spilled out, forms started to take shape and red eyes snapped open. Some looked like werewolves, a few like bears, and scorpion like one appeared in the back. She reached behind her again and grabbed the door knob._

 _One if the creatures stepped forward and the world shook and started to collapse. She tried to open the door to where the laughter was coming from, but the door would not open. The figure rose a hand and all the creatures roared before they rushed towards her._

 _She kept trying to open the door desperately, but the door was jammed. Something wasn't letting her in and the laughter grew with each passing second. It was almost like they were laughing at her and the state she was in. Deciding that she had nothing to lose, she started to throw her weight against the door. The creatures were almost upon her and she could feel the heat from their breath, the ripples of air around their claws as they swung at her, and her own body freezing up one last time as she pressed up against the door. She closed her eyes and prepares for the worst._

 _Then she felt the sensation of falling backwards through the door and further beyond. She opened her eyes and saw that she was falling through darkness. She wanted to scream out in terror of falling but her voice wouldn't come out. The darkness was never ending, bottomless, all consuming._

 _Right when she was getting used to sensation she crashed into something. Darkness still surrounded her but at the same time she felt something soft around her. She threw it off of her as soon as she could and looked around to take in her new surroundings._

 _She was in a room now. It was a simple dorm room with four desks and some bookshelves here and there. Across from her she could see a crudely thrown together bunk bed that was held up by books. And that's when she noticed that she was on top of another bunk bed, this one held up by ropes._

 _Honestly, who built these death traps?_

 _Then she heard the laughter again, just outside the room. She got off the top bunk and went outside into an endless hallway that was lined with doors just like the one she through and mirrors in between them. Both ways looked the same, but only one had darkness crawling from it. She tried to go back into the room she came from but the door had disappeared. So she ran in the opposite direction by default._

 _As she sped up, so too did the darkness but the darkness wasn't getting tired like she was. Door after door she passed hoping to find an end to this hallway. She turned around to take a look behind her to see where the darkness was and stumbled when she landed on her foot wrong. She fell to the side and went through a mirror that was hanging on the wall._

 _This time she landed on solid ground, but still surrounded by darkness. She took a step forward and three enormous pairs of eyes opened up around her. Red, icy blue, and amber catlike eyes all glared at her. Shunning her. Belittling her. Anger boring holes into her cert soul._

 _Not wanting to waste time in finding out what was going on, she ran again and this time the eyes followed her by circling around her._

 _"You left us." A cold voice sounded out._

 _"We trusted you." A betrayed and mysterious voice came._

 _"You promised to be careful!" An angry but concerned voice practically shouted._

 _"""WHY DID YOU FORGET ABOUT US!?""" They all shouted at once._

 _What they were saying hurt her ears so she covered them as she ran faster to get away. Then light began to shine and drove the eyes away but she ran forward towards the light. Towards safety. Each step towards the light made it bigger and brighter._

 _When the light almost enveloped her, she brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the intensity and closed her eyes again. When she opened them again she found herself topless staring at herself from her stomach up._

"" _AAAAAAAAAAAA_ AAAAAAAAA _AHHHHHHHHH_ HHHHHHHHHH!"

Ruby shot up in her bed screaming and sweat covered. Her heart feeling as though it was about to burst through her chest. Her breathing was fast, rough, heavy, and labored. Silver eyes darting around to take in her surroundings as fast as she could.

Her own clothes scattered about the floor in an organized mess. The bed she was in was covered in red sheets, black blankets, and an abundance of pillows while it was pushed into the corner of the room. White painted walls that are still bare with no decorations and a wood flooring that had a rug at the side of her bed. This was the room that the Steel family was letting her use. The only room, aside from the hospital room, that she was familiar with.

When she regained control of her breathing, Ruby looked to her right where a nightstand with an alarm clock on it was. The soft red lights illuminated that it was one fifty-eight in the morning.

* * *

 **LOCATION: STEEL FAMILY HOUSE, DIMITHION, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 15 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 0158**

Ruby couldn't go back to sleep after that weird nightmare she had. Luckily for her, most of the residents of the house were gone. The daughters were either out with their boyfriends or their friends, Harkens wife had a work party going on, and as for his son... she actually didn't know where he was. But now that she was wide awake, and not wanting to go back to bed anytime soon, Ruby decided to get some water to drink.

She left her room and entered the small hallway that was connected to it. Since she was staying in the guest room, she was on the ground floor and just a little bit away from the living room, which was adjacent to the kitchen. But instead of seeing the near darkness of the night, Ruby saw the light of the T.V. and heard a movie being played.

When Ruby rounded the corner into the living room she saw Harken and his son, Axel, both sitting on a couch with a beer in hand. Axel looked almost identical to his father, same facial structure, same hair color, even when he talked from across the house there were times when Ruby thought that it was Harken talking. The only physical differences between the two of them was that Axel's skin tone was lighter, he didn't look quite as rugged as his father, and his eye color was that of his mother's, a blue so deep that it seemed like the ocean. She had gotten lost in his eyes the first time she had met him.

It was _embarrassing_ when they had to snap their fingers in front of her to get her back to reality.

"So the banshee awakens," was the first thing out of Axel's mouth.

Ruby just let out a sigh at his comment. _He would be so much cuter if he just kept quiet._ It was true that while Axel was handsome, his blunt or snarky remarks usually ruined most girls affection towards him. And it also earned him a smack to the back of his head from Harken.

"What was that for?" Axel glared while rubbing the back of his head.

"For being an ass," Harken simply replied while he took another sip of his beer. He then gestured for Ruby to sit with them, which she did. Neither Harken nor Axel asked about the nightmare she had, which she wasn't sure how to feel about. On one hand it was nice that they were respecting her privacy, but on the other she wanted to talk about

it.

"...You're not gonna ask what I dreamed about?" Ruby asked as the movie continued to play.

"Are you gonna talk about it?" Was Harken's reply.

"Probably not... but now I can't get back to sleep."

"Obviously," Axel interjected. "And I've got a solution that could help."

"Really?" Ruby was slightly surprised that he actually had something that could help. "That's a big step coming from you."

"I have my moments," Axel puffed out his chest in mock pride. "But my idea was for us to spar, we ha-"

"Axel, no." Harken quickly shut him down before he could even finish.

"Dad. If I can't spar with you anymore than who?"

"Definitely not Ruby! Let alone the fact that she's still technically recovering, we don't even know if-"

"I'll do it." Those three simple words silenced the both of them before they had a chance to get too heated. "I'm not actually sure if I can fight, but something is telling me I wouldn't lose."

When they both turned to look at Ruby, all they saw was her smiling at the challenge that was presented to her. This in turn made Axel smile because he knew that this would be a fun fight.

* * *

In the backyard of the Steel household, there was an area that had been cleared out of all vegetation and replaced with soft dirt. In the dirt was a circle that was 5 meters in size. Ruby stood on one side while Axel stood on the other. Harken was in between them with two padded staffs that were meant for training.

Ruby had changed out of her pajamas and was wearing a simple black tank top and a pair of workout shorts. Axel on the other hand was shirtless and wearing a pair of black shorts that had a golden tree emblem on them. He was a practitioner of Strangereal martial arts, with his prefered being one based on grappling.

"We'll make this simple and quick, since we don't know when your mother will be back," saying that made a shiver go down both men's spines. "3 hits anywhere on the body to win, no headshots allowed. Am I clear?"

Axel and Ruby both nodded and Harken gave them the practice staffs. Normally there wouldn't be any padding on the staffs, they would just be a softer wood, but they didn't want to leave any bruises on Ruby lest they face the wrath of the matriarch of the Steel family. And that was something neither man wanted to go through... again.

Axel gave his staff a few practice swings before he looked over to Ruby and surprised was the least he could say about what he saw. Ruby was masterfully using the staff at a level he was nowhere near. It baffled him to be honest, but he would never tell her that. On her face however, was a frown that seemed to be dissatisfied at something.

And he wasn't the only one who noticed.

"What's wrong Ruby?" Harken was the one to ask.

"I don't know... I feel like I've used something similar to this..." Ruby gave a shrug and got into a fighting stance. Axel responded in kind.

Harken raised his hand and moved outside the circle. "3... 2... 1..." Harken sliced the air in front of him. "BEGIN!"

Ruby shot forward with a speed that surprised Axel. She brought her for a downward swing, which Axel brought his own staff up to counter. But Ruby expected this and fiented the swing into a backspin and stabbed straight into his gut and pushed him back a few feet.

"One point: Ruby." Harken said in a monotone voice.

 _She's better than I thought,_ Axel thought.

He knew from the way she carried herself that she had experience in martial arts, but he never thought she knew how to effectively use a staff so well. He pivoted and tried to sweep her off her feet, but Ruby implanted the end of her staff into the ground, spun herself around, and accidentally kicked him in the face with both her feet.

"Sorry," Ruby innocently squeaked as Axel fell into a roll to get himself back into a fighting stance. He was now fully concentrating on the fight after getting his head kicked.

Axel dashes at at Ruby and repeatedly tried to stab at her. As for Ruby, it was like she was seeing things in slow motion. All of Axel's attacks seemed as though they were being dragged through water and she was easily able to dodge them all.

 _What's going on? A fight should be more fast paced shouldn't it?_ Ruby thought to herself as she dodged a stab at her head. But in that brief moment of not being in the fight, Axel saw an advantage and moved in closer to Ruby. He knees her in the gut, hard. The moment his knee made contact though, it felt like he had hit a thin wall that covered Ruby.

 _What the hell?_ A momentary distraction that allowed Ruby to recover from getting kneed and to gain some distance.

"One point, Axel."

Still being distracted, he didn't register what his dad said nor the fact that Ruby was coming for him with a wide swing from the right. She hit him right in his side and followed through by spinning behind him and hitting him in the back with the end if the staff. Again.

Axel stumbled onto his knees as he just now processed what happened.

"Winner, Ruby." Harken declared. Ruby walked over to Axel and offered him a hand up, which he took with a heavy sigh.

"Thanks, Axel... That really cleared my head," Ruby gave him a genuine smile when he was back onto his feet.

"No problem... Glad I could be your punching bag." Axel started to rub his face where Ruby double kicked him. "It felt like I was hit by a truck," he added in.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

""Pfffffffttttt."" The both of them started to crack up for no reason. This continued for a moment before Harken walked over and their laughter died down as they regained their breathing.

"Thank you... Both of you." Ruby looked at the father/son duo in front of her. "Honestly, I'm scared. Scared of my nightmare and what it means, and scared of what might happen if I accept Shepards deal."

"That's natural." Ruby looked at Harken for what he said. "It's natural to feel fear for the unknown. You past could be essentially gone and everyone has second thoughts about joining the military. Hell... I know I did."

"You did?" To her, Harken seemed like the type who would commit to a decision he made and not worry about the 'what ifs.'

"Maybe you just need to take your mind off of it, like how we did tonight."

"Are you telling me to fight? Because you know I will."

"No, that's not what I'm saying." Harken let out a sigh. "I have a day off tomorrow and I was going to surprise everyone by taking them to nearby city. Let the girls shop and Axel and I can do our thing."

"WE ARE?! HELL YEAH!" Axel was ignored.

"Oh well, umm I guess I'll be here then." Ruby suddenly found the ground more interesting than looking at Harken.

"Everyone includes you too."

"...huh? It does?" She instantly perked up at this. She hadn't been to any other place aside from the base and the local area. Going to a new place just had her jumping in joy before she bolted onto Harken to give him a hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"No problem," he patted Ruby's head before she broke off the hug with a slight red tint of embarrassment shading her face. "Now go to bed. Both of you."

"Yessir," Ruby jumped up while turning around.

"Aight," was Axel's reply.

"Ruby," she turned around once more. "I have to inform Shepard of your nightmare, because it's one of my responsibilities. So be prepared for... whatever she has in store."

Ruby nodded her head before she went off to her room to sleep. And all Harken did was smile as he watched both children go.

 _It's like having another daughter... Hell at this point I think Lillith will adopt her._ He gave a small chuckle at the thought of what his wife would most likely do before he went inside to make the phone call.

* * *

 **A little bit over a week to relase this, not bad but I still would've liked to have been a week. One thin I forgot to mention last time, because I wrote that hungover, is that the reason for Ruby learning fast is simple. Taiyang and a little bit of Qrow. They're teachers, do you really think they would let Ruby and Yang not have good grades?**

 **Anyways, Ruby had a nightmare! Kinda... I feel like this had to more of a visual thing.. and yes, I did borrow a scene from Soul Eater. But we also see that Harken already considers ruby to be family. And I've also dabbled with a CQC style fight! Not my forte! But I gave it my best that I could do right now!**

 **I wonder how that will play in the future?**

 **But don't worry people, for I am almost done setting everything up to 'officially' begin the story.**

 **Aso, I'm curious.. how did you giys find this, were you looking for an Ace Combat fic? Or a RWBY fic?**

 **As always, read and review**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	6. Chapter 5: Destined Encounter

**LOCATION: AMMERON, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 16 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1342**

The city of Ammeron, the entertainment capital of the Federation and home to the second largest shopping center, which mainly consisted of local businesses for food and big commercial industries for for electronics and clothing. It was a booming city that was inhabited by a free-spirited people who were bustling, talking, and enjoying their day. It was a beautiful day for doing just about anything. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the temperature was at eighty-nine degrees fahrenheit with a slight breeze, and overall it attracted people to come out in large crowds.

Amongst this crowd was certain family who were currently in a panic. Four women and two men were currently covered in sweat and breathing heavily. This was the Steel family.

"Did you find her?" Harken asked his wife and children. All of them either shook their head or said 'no.'

"Damn it," Axel clenched his fist and looked toward the ground. "I only took my eyes off of her for half a second!"

"It's not only your fault," Lilith Steel, the Matriarch of the Steel family, tried to comfort her son. She had long, silky, raven black hair, with bright blue eyes, and a body that even supermodels envied. "We were there too, it's also our fault."

Meanwhile in a café somewhere else in the city, Ruby Rose was sitting with three other men in front of her.

"So," she began. "You said to call you Pixy."

* * *

 **3 HOURS EARLIER**

The Steel family, plus Ruby, came to Ammeron to enjoy a day of shopping. They had to leave a bit early due to both traffic and distance from Dimithion. It was about an hour and a half drive, but it was a pleasant trip that was filled with laughter and talking.

Once they had parked and gotten out of the van, Lilith gathered everyone in a circle.

"So the girls and I are going to look at clothes, what will you two do?" She asked her husband and son.

"There's a few new model kits that came out, so I'm gonna check those out," Harken pointed his thumb in some direction.

"I'm gonna check the martial arts stores and see if they have a certain weapon," Axel yawned as he said this and slightly winced from the bruise Ruby had left.

At the mentions of weapons, Ruby herself perked up. "Would you mind if I went with you Axel?" Stars were shining in her eyes which made it hard for him to refuse, but thankfully for him, he didn't have to. Lilith did it for him.

Lilith had grabbed Ruby by her head and in a tone that left no room for argument said, "I did say all of us girls are going clothes shopping didn't I Ruby?"

Ruby's' silver eyes looked to the two men in the group and in a small voice that sounded like a mouse said, "Help me."

Axel raised a clenched fist to his chest in a mock salute and said, "We shall not forget your sacrifice."

"Axel...?" Ruby turned her head to Harken and he brought his eyes to look at hers. "Mr. Steel..." Her voice was filled with hope when he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Death hurts more when you struggle." And with that sentence, they could audibly hear Ruby's hope shattering into pieces.

"I don't wanna go," Ruby said painfully before she was dragged off by the Lilith and the Steel daughters. "I don't wanna wear lady stilts! **YOU TRAITOOOOOOORS!** "

Father and son both had to look away in pain as Ruby was dragged away from them for they remembered the long hours of shopping that they have done and the many bags that they had to carry for a 'simple' shopping trip before. Let it be known though, that every man in Strangereal are strong men who fear almost nothing. Almost. They have one unspoken rule that they all agree to, for they know the difference between a happy life and a life filled with strife.

That saying is; 'A happy wife, is a happy life.'

"Father," Axel looked to the sky with tears.

"Yes son?" Harken also did the same.

"Are we cowards for running?"

"No, we are not. Death was not our fate today."

As they looked to the sky, they could see a happy image of a smiling Ruby before she knew what her fate was.

* * *

" **Those jerks**..." Ruby mumble to herself as she was now allowed to walk.

"What was that dear? I can't understand you when you speak that language," Lilith stated. She was currently following behind all her daughters, Ruby included in that. In the past month she had found out that whenever Ruby spoke her native language, it was either out of frustration or because she didn't want anyone to understand her.

"Nothing," Ruby said, not wanting to make her 'punishment' any worse. Ruby does like to shop, but the last time she went with the females of the Steel family on a shopping trip, it took hours just for them to find an outfit they liked. While she did like to shop, she didn't like to spend hours searching for clothes. She does that for weapons and comics.

The group continues walking until they were in front of a store. Ruby swallowed her spit as she looked at the store itself. It was a fancy looking store that seemed like a place rich people would go to. The outside was white walling with gold lettering for the store name. In the windows were an abundance of maquins dressed in nice looking clothes, and the one thing that Ruby did not want to wear. Heels.

Ruby took a step back to try and rub from her fate, but unfortunately two of the Steel daughters, Lily and Luna, had already expected this and had her both her arms interlocked into theirs. And despite her screams of protest, they dragged her in.

* * *

 **1 HOUR LATER**

"Did you really have to make me try all of that on?" Ruby sighed as she slumped her shoulders in exhaustion. Sje was carrying serval bags in both h

"Yes, yes we did," Luna replied. Luna had a figure that was much like her mothers. She had dyed her hair a silver that was reminiscent of her name and flowed down to her shoulders. She also had brown eyes but were a much lighter shade then her fathers.

"It's always fun to dress you up," Lily decided to side with her sister. She had a short, light brown colored hair that was had a bronze or copper shine to it. Much like her sister and mother, she had a body type that was envied.

"Aaaaaquuuaaaaa! Help meeeeee," Ruby begged the third and youngest of the daughters. She kept her black hair tied up in a ponytail. Glasses were on her face and her heterochromatic eyes, one blue and one green, looked at Ruby with pity.

"Unfortunately, I have no sway on my older sisters and their antics," Aqua stated simply, which made Ruby cry crocodile tears.

"So mean." All of them bursted out laughing after Ruby said this.

After gaining some self control of herself, Lilith said, "It's almost lunch time why don't we get the boys. We need them to carry our bags afterall."

"Ok."

"Sure."

"Let us then."

"Those traitors deserve it."

* * *

 **30 MINUTES LATER**

The men of the Steel house had been found and 'volunteered' to carry the bags of the women. They could only sigh in defeat as they should have seen this coming.

The family walked along the sidewalk, going to a restaurant that a friend of theirs owned. Lily, Aqua, and Luna were in the front, Lilith trailing slightly behind them, Axel and Harken behind her, and Ruby was behind the two men. She was close enough to them so that if anything happened, she could easily get their attention but far enough away to still be by herself.

Ruby looked ahead at the happy family before her and felt a pang of both jealousy and pain. The Steel family had pretty much accepted her without asking too many questions, and it was even funny when Harken said that they had a new daughter from his 'mistress.' It was funny to see all their 'reactions' from his 'confession' and it was also the first time she saw a side of Harken that wasn't his soldier side. Even though they were accepting, she still felt as if she was an outsider.

"Ruby," she was startled and saw that Axel was looking back at her. "You good?"

There was a moment of pause before Ruby gave a half smile and responded to him. "Yea... I'm good." She had to admit though, even though she felt like an outsider it was good to know that they actually cared for her past just the fact she was living with them.

Axel turned around after he got her confirmation and avoided crashing into someone at the same time. Unfortunionarly for Ruby, the same could not be said as she was almost crushed when the slightly larger man tripped over his own feet. Ruby was able to catch and and he said words of thanks for helping him out.

Ruby noticed a man with a small flower stand on the street corner about a minute after she helped out the man who tripped on himself. She was reaching into her pocket of her jeans, because this pair actually had some pockets on them, when she noticed something was missing from her pocket. Her wallet was still there, but something far more valuable to her was missing.

She started to pat all overself to make sure she didn't misplace it while she was forced to try on clothes. Her frantic patting didn't for unnoticed as Axel had come up to Ruby without her notice.

"What's wrong? Did you forget something?" Axel asked.

"It's not here! It was in my pocket when we left!" She looked at him with a panicked look and slightly watery eyes. Axel grabbed her by the shoulders and was about to say something but Ruby's eyes widened as if she realized something. "Maybe that guy picked it up!" She practically shouted. She looked down tried to look down the street that they had come, but Axel kept her from doing so.

"Ruby, wha-"

"Axel! Ruby! You twocan flirt later. Come on," Harken almost shouted over the crowd.

Axel turned his head back to reply, and so that his voice traveled better, but unfortunately he felt Ruby slip from his grasp. This caused him to turn his head, again, back towards where Ruby was and saw that she was already halfway down the street. That baffled him, _How can she move so fast?_ "Fuck... RUBY!"

Right as he was starting to run, a hand turned him around to face his father. _FUCKING SHIT!_ He desperately wanted to shout that, but not in his dad's face.

* * *

Ruby was running down the street trying to look for the man she had bumped into earlier, thinking that maybe he picked up what she might have dropped. Her breathing was even as she ran and avoided hitting people as she passed by, this made her 'run-and-search' much faster.

 _Think Ruby, think! What was he wearing again?_ Ruby thought back to the incident. _He was wearing a black ball cap, it covered most of his face so no luck on what he looked like too much._ She made a right turn at the street corner. _A black zip up hoodie and I think it was a... white shirt?._

She stopped for a second to scan the crowd to see if she could find him. And it seemed like Lady Luck was on her side today, for she found the exact man she was looking for.

"HEY!" She shouted. It got her quite a bit of attention, including that of the man she was running to. Upon seeing her, the man broke into a sprint to run from her.

Ruby was confused as to why the man was running and started to chase after him. _Why's he running? I just wanna ask him a question._ Ruby was fast, but the man had some distance from her and he kept taking turns whenever he could making it hard for Ruby to catch up with him. _The only people who run are... bad... guys... But if he's a bad guy what did he do?_

It was slow, but the realization finally hit of what the man actually was and why he was running from her. "THIEF!" The now identified thief started to shove people and objects down as he passed by them in an attempt to slow her down. She had to twist, turn, and jump to make sure she didn't hit anyone or anything.

The thief ran across the street and Ruby didn't hesitate to follow him, even if there traffic was flowing and both of them were almost hit. The thief looked back and Ruby saw frustration written all over his face.

 _"Persistent." A tall man in a white suite and wearing a bowler stood on the roof of a building. His back was facing her, so she couldn't see his face, but she definitely knew that the man in front of her was a bad guy and a thief. But what was it he stole again?_

Ruby hit the person in front of her and tumbled onto the ground. _Why now?! I almost had him_! She was about to get up when the person she ran into grabbed her to prevent her from leaving.

The thief heard the sound of people falling onto the ground, that he didn't cause, and looked back to see the girl who was chasing him picking herself up from the ground and being stopped by some person that she had hit on her own. He smirked knowing that he could get away now and cash in on what he stole from her.

"STOP HIM! HE'S A THIEF!" Ruby shouted at anyone who would listen and help her. And she really did hope that someone helped her.

The sound of a fist impacting against a skull could be heard from where she was. So could the sound of a man's unconscious body hitting the ground hard.

Lady Luck was truly on her side today it seemed.

"Well, since you asked so kindly Little Red."

Ruby saw a light skinned man with light brown, almost blonde, hair that was shorter on the sides and curly and unkempt on the top. He had brown eyes that seemed much like Harken's in the fact that he had seen more of the bad side of the world than most people ever would. But what stood out at the moment was the smirk on his face, like he knew something was funny but wouldn't tell anyone.

"But unfortunately for you, it's gonna cost you."

* * *

 **He...hehe...HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **I LIIIVEEE!** ***looks at chopped off arms on the ground***

 **...It's just a flesh wound.**

 **But in all seriousness, I apologize. This chapter was originally gonna be longer but I didnmt want to make you guys wait any longer. Shit went down and me and the people I work with were in the spot light, and not the good kind. So right now we're pretty much walkin on a tight rope made of thin ice over a fiery pit filled with knives and fricken sharks with fricken laser beams on their fricken foreheads!**

 **But I'm good for the most part. Also signed back up for college.**

 **Anywho, I just really wanted to show a more everyday life in this chapter and also introduce the rest if the Steel family. I also had a thought of puns with their names, but then I realized that I already names Axel something that wasn't a metal so I couldn't do it anymore... meh, whatever. We also get a glimpse at a familiar face.**

 **But I also have a bit of a request for you artist who are reading this... Who wants to draw a cover art for this?** **PM if you're interested.**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	7. Chapter 6: Twilight

**LOCATION: AMMERON, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 16 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1300**

Ruby looked at the man before her with a questioning look. "Cost me?"

"If there's one truth to this world Red," he walked over to the man he had knocked down and squatted down beside him. "It's that nothing in this world is free."

He motioned for Ruby to come over to him. She wasn't sure what he was going to due but she did need to get what was stolen back, so she walked over and squated next to the thief as well. "Well I don't have much on me, would a cup of coffee work?"

The man gave a shrug as if to say 'As long as I get payment,' before he started to rummage through the thief's pockets. "So how much did he steal?"

"Something that means a lot to me," Ruby replied as she went through his pockets on the other side.

"A momento then?"

"...Something like that."

The man didn't say anything after that for a few moments until he found something that was strange. It was a red and black, rectangular... something, that had a rose on both sides. Probably what the girl is looking for.

Right as he raised his head to ask if it was what she was looking for, Ruby also moved her head up and saw what was stolen from her. Her eyes lit up as if there were stars in them and quickly hugged onto the man who helped her.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

The man was shocked to say the least. Shocked at how quickly she latched onto him and at how he was unable to react to her latching onto him. He was a mercenary and a damn good one at that, in his own humble opinion. But one does not survive being a mercenary for as long as he had by simply reacting too late or by being shocked senseless.

Ruby let go of the man and stood up while holding her hand out. "Thank you very much sir," she tried her best to sound as polite as possible. "My name's Ruby, Ruby Rose."

The man gave a small smirk and stood up grasping her hand. "Nice to meet you Ruby, I'm called-"

"Pixie."

They both turned to see another man short, black hair on the sides and messy on top. He had green eyes and a large scar going across the bridge of his nose.

Next to the man was a younger man, who looked a bit older than Ruby. His hair was a bit short all around, sandy blonde, and a bit messy. His eyes a an azure so blue that Ruby thought she was staring into the vast skies above. She was so lost in his eyes that it almost didn't register the name that had been said. Almost.

"Pixie?" She turned her head back to the man whose hand she had been shaking.

He let out a sigh. "I was hoping that you didn't hear that."

Axel was not having a fun time, to say the least of the current situation. Ruby had ran off to try and find someone who, he was sure, she would not find. To top it off, his family thought it was his fault that Ruby ran because it's always, somehow, his fault.

His family had split up to look for her with everyone, aside from his dad, being in pairs. Axel was currently with his youngest sister, Aqua. They decided to try and ask people in the area if they had seen Ruby, but that was proving difficult due to the fact that most people didn't bother with anything that was outside of their own world. Thankfully though, there were a few people who had seen a little brunette/redhead that was chasing after someone.

Axel knew that Ruby didn't know much about the world due to her amnesia and that she could take care of herself, evidence being his still bruised face, but he couldn't help but worry about her. In the short time that he had known her, she had essentially become another sister to him. To him, and most likely all of his family, Ruby was like a star in the night sky. She was almost always smiling and just seemed innocent in this world that seemed to be constantly at war with itself.

Thus, he prayed that nothing would happen to that innocent, little star.

Ruby... Don't do something stupid.

 **LOCATION: AMMERON, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 16 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1347**

The cop car had just left, hauling the unconscious thief to their station, and Ruby was doing something stupid. She was not only talking to strangers, three full grown adult men at that, but she was also sitting down and having coffee with them. But she knew how to fight and she was ridiculously fast, so everything would be fine... At least, that's what Ruby was thinking. Plus they were outside instead of being inside the café

Ruby placed her elbows on the table, crossed her fingers together in front of her face, and trying her hardest to not laugh and talk with a serious tone of voice she asked, "So your name is Pixie?"

The man called 'Pixie' let out a sigh and Ruby couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. After she had calmed down a bit, 'Pixie' decided to try and correct her. "Red, my name isn't Pixie."

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "Then why does he," she pointed to the man with the scar on his face. "Call you Pixie?"

"Long story," there was a pause as he took a sip of his coffee. "But my name is Foulke. Larry Foulke." He held his hand in front of him for a handshake, which Ruby took. "These two on my sides are good friend José Gonzalez," he pointed to the man with the scar who gave a single wave. "And his nephew, Diego Gonzalez," he pointed to the youngest of the three men who simply nodded at her.

"Nice to meet both of you," Ruby smiled at the two men. "Soooo are you guys visiting like me or do you live here?" She asked truly curious as for why they were here and to make some small talk.

"I live here with Diego," José said.

"And I'm just visiting them and taking care of some business," Larry added in.

Ruby didn't want to ask as for why Diego and José were living together, because she knew that there were probably some circumstances, but Larry had kinda piqued her interest. "And what is it that you do Mr. Foulke?"

"Just call me Foulke, and I do... odd jobs," he didn't want to explain to her that he was a mercenary. To him, Ruby seemed to be the kind of girl that one didn't want to explain that the guy who brought presents once a year was actually adults buying gifts for their children. "And I actually came here to talk with Gonzalez about my next contract."

"Oh," Ruby almost deflated because she felt like she should leave so that can do their business. "I guess I'll go then."

"You said that you were visiting," José said before she could get up. "Do you know the area or anyone you can contact?" Ruby shook her head and slumped down a little bit as she realized that she had left the Steel family behind and had no idea where they were or where she was.

"I got separated from the people I was with when I chased that thief," Ruby started to explain. "And it's my first time here, so I'm lost."

"Diego." Diego got up and offered Ruby a hand up, which she took. "Diego here will escort you until you find your friends. He's a man of few words so I hope you don't mind a bit of silence."

"I don't mind," Ruby happily replied. "I'm live with some loud people, so a bit of quietness is welcomed sometimes." All three of them stared at her for her use of a word that doesn't exist, but Ruby was oblivious to it because she thought she heard someone call her name and was looking for the person who called out to her.

Must've been my imagination, she shrugged and proceeded to let Diego escort her while she searched for the Steel family.

Axel was currently being strangled and couldn't make any noise due to a hand covering his mouth. Even if he was freaking out, he couldn't fight back because the person was who was strangling him was none other then Aqua. They had finally found Ruby and he was in the middle of calling out to her when his sister, for whatever reason, pulled him into an alleyway and prevented him from calling out to her. He had to repeatedly tap on Aqua's forearm to get her to finally let go.

When Aqua finally let go, he was gasping for air while Aqua was looking around the corner stealthily. When Axel finally regained control to, he sent a glare to his sister before he asked a question in a calm manner. "What the hell was that for?"

Aqua sent him a look as if to say 'are you stupid or something?' before she motioned him over to look around the corner with her. "Tell me brother, what do you see Ruby doing?"

Knowing he wasn't going to get an answer until he did as she asked, he peeked around the corner. "What I saw was Ruby with three strange men, now she's leaving with one of them."

"Tsk tsk tsk," Aqua wagged her finger back and forth. "If you actually look closer, you can see that Ruby is talking with people. Other than us. That she met on her own."

"...I still don't see why you won't let me go get her right now."

Aqua let out an audible sigh to show that she was displeased with Axel. "It's a miracle that you graduated school."

"Oi."

"What I mean to say dear brother," she continued on as if she hadn't insulted him whatsoever. "Is that this could be a good chance for her to grow her social circle beyond just the two Agents she is mandated to talk with and ourselves."

"...How come I feel like you have another reason?"

"Just call it a woman's intuition for my reasoning. Now will you go fetch the rest of our family? I shall keep an eye on Ruby here."

Axel let out a sigh and ran to where they decided to meet up at whether or not they found Ruby. This is gonna be a long day.

 **LOCATION: AMMERON, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 16 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1900**

Ruby may have gotten distracted while searching the city for the Steel family. It wasn't her fault that they passed by a bakery and had to 'sample' each and everyone one of their cookies that had a different flavor from each other. Nor was it her fault when she saw an arcade and 'asked' Diego to show her the difference games, surprisingly Diego was good at the dancing game. The only thing that she will admit to was that she took a while to look at all the comics when they passed by a comic shop. There were times throughout the day though that Ruby could've sworn that she heard either Axels' or Harkens' voice (muffled screams of pain) but she just put it at her imagination at work.

It was only now that the clock tower rung above their heads that she realized how long she and Diego had been 'searching' for the Steel family. Oh boy... Mrs. Steel is gonna let me have it when we find them.

"Up there," Ruby turned around to see Diego pointing to the clock tower. "It's one of the highest points in the city. Best place to see the entire city." Ruby could only nod at his statement. Like his uncle José had said, he didn't talk much but when he did, it was usually something important. And she did have to agree with him on this. The clock tower was on the top of a hill in the middle of downtown Ammeron and they could probably see most of the city if they did get up there.

But the question is how do we get up there? Ruby thought to herself. After all, the clocktower was connected to church. It's not like they would just let anyone up there.

Then she heard the sound of a door opening behind her. When she turned around she saw Diego entering the base of the clock tower and saying "This way to the top."

Ruby was in disbelief. Not only was Diego easily leading her to the top of the tower, but none of the people who worked in the church tried to stop them. Instead they only smiled at both of them as if it was an everyday occurrence, which to Diego it was... but Ruby didn't know that.

When they reached the top the sun started to descend and the sky was starting to become bright orange. Shadows elongated and the buildings became a dark landscape against the bright background. Light was reflecting off windows, both stained and clear, to create an image of stars against the twilight sky.

"Wow," was all Ruby could say to the scene she was seeing.

"This is my favorite spot in the city," Diego chimed in. "Here," he handed Ruby a popsicle. She was wondering when he got said popsicle, but he probably got it before they entered the church. He sat down on the edge and offered Ruby the spot next to him, which she took along side a murder of crows.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the scenery and the ice cream that was salty but sweet.

"So you come here often then?" Ruby asked curiously. Diego only nodded his head in confirmation. "I can see why. It's beautiful up here."

"...Ruby."

"Hmm?"

"Does the color of the sky matter to you?"

Ruby was a bit confused by the question she was asked. She had to think about it for a bit before she came up with an answer that she was pleased with. "No, it doesn't."

"Why is that?" Diego probed further to find her reasoning.

"Because," Ruby started off. "It doesn't matter where in the world you are, what country you're from, or how the sky changes color because the sky is vast and infinite." Ruby reached her hand out towards the setting sun. "Everyone on this planet shares one sky, one destiny. So even if I'm separated from someone I know and care for, I know that as long as we both see the sky, no matter what color it is, we will be reconnected."

Diego only gave her a soft and genuine smile as his response to her. In a way, she almost sounds like uncle José. Her eyes also don't look as fearful anymore... Whatever was causing seems to be forgotten for now. Maybe we should really start looking for her friends now though. He finished the last of his ice cream, got up, and offered Ruby a hand up as well. Ruby took his hand both went back inside to go down to the ground floor.

* * *

When Ruby and Diego left the church, the sun had set and had been replaced by the night sky and the Steel family had been gathered outside. All of them were staring at her, then at Diego. With a glare.

"Dear," Lilith dove into Harken's should and started to cry fake tears. "Our little Ruby is already getting married to a man she just met!"

Harken started to pat his wife's' back 'in an attempt to calm her down.' "Honey... if it goes at this rate, we may be grandparents soon."

Hearing that, Ruby's face turned as red as her namesake while Diego just stood there passively.

"If he wants her hand in marriage, he has to beat me first!" Axel proclaimed with a 'fire' in his eyes.

"Go Axel! Beat him up!" Luna cheered.

"Don't let Ruby get taken from us!" Lily continued the idiocy of their family.

"You can do it big brother," Aqua said in more of a monotone voice.

"...Are they always like this?" Diego turned towards Ruby who was still redder than a tomato. It was easy for him to figure out that these were the people who Ruby was looking for and to him, it seemed like it was her family.

"No, not always. Only when they either want to embarrass someone or just have some fun," Ruby tried to avoid making any eye contact with Diego.

Diego decided that since they had found who they were looking for, that it was time to leave. So he turned and started to walk away. "Later, Ruby."

Ruby hearing her name get called, turned to see Diego leaving. "Ah! Diego, wait a second!" She ran and grabbed a hold of one of his hands.

When he turned around and gave her a questioning look, Ruby didn't know what to say for a second because of the audience in the background who were commenting about 'Ruby getting stolen,' or how 'this is just like one of my Soaps.' Ruby had no idea what a Soap was but she would figure it out later.

"I have to pay you back for helping me out," Ruby stated with a determination of steel in her eyes and some lingering tint of red on her face.

Seeing how Ruby was not about to let this go he just simply asked "Do you have a pen?" Lily came over and handed her a pen, to which both Ruby and Diego were internally questioning why she had a pen on her like it was a normal thing to have for everyday use. They both just put it as the weirdness of the Steel family.

"Give me your arm," it was more of a command instead of a request but Ruby compiled either way. When she held up her arm, Diego started to write some numbers on her before he handed her the pen and started to leave again. "Just give me a call later and we can work it out then."

Once Diego was out of sight, Ruby felt two arms wrap around her neck. That's when she saw Luna and Lily hanging off if her wearing cheshire grins that could split their face in two. Ruby could only feel a sense of dread looking at them.

"So Ruby," Luna started off.

"Wanna tell us," Lily continued.

""How your _date_ went,"" their grins only grew as they saw Ruby revert to being as red as possible and smoke seemed to come out of her head as they emphasised the word 'date.' Even if they did know how her 'date' went, they would never tell Ruby that.

"I-I-I-It wasn't a date!" Ruby practically shouted at the two of them.

A crow cawed as if it was laughing at her situation.

* * *

 **LOCATION: GONZALEZ HOUSE, AMMERON, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 16 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1956**

"So," a cigarette was lit. "What'dja think of the girl?" José asked Larry

"She has the same air about her as you, Diego, and Cipher do," Foulke answered as he lit a cigarette for himself. "And I have a feeling that this won't be the last time I meet her."

José could only nod in agreement with his long time friend. "And what about my proposition?"

Foulke took a long drag from his cigarette before he decided to answer. "We both know that Diego doesn't need much more teaching. He took to that T-6 like he was born for it." José nodded his head in agreement as he remembered how fast Diego learned how to fly. "But I'll take it just for the fact that I don't wanna see him die in the near future."

"So the rumors from Eursia are true then?" José let a puff of smoke out.

"Hard to say Phoenix," Foulke leaned back in his chair, with a foot on the table supporting him. The only reason he could relax like this was because of the fact he was with José. "My contacts over there are saying that they're gathering their forces but are trying to keep it all under wraps. But I wouldn't be surprised if they made a move against someone, we've both heard about the current state of Erusia... It's not pretty."

At that moment Foulke grabbed his head and screamed as if he had remembered something.

"What's wrong Pixie?"

"I forgot to have little Red pay for the coffee earlier!"

The man once known as Phoenix could only at his old friends antics and his values of 'Equivalent Exchange.'

* * *

 ***insert apology here***

 ***insert excuse about work bs here***

 ***glares at the two people who poked and stole my choped off arms* you know who you are *continues typing with my feet***

 **I was honostly a bit lazy about writting this chapter... wven if it did take me about a day and a half streached over four days to write this.**

 **Also if you pay attention to the news, shit's going down in Syria... again. So I don't quite know how that'll effect me yet.**

 **The referances I put in this chapter are not as subtle as the last chapter, but I still like how I put them in with the story. Also this chapter title has a double meaning. Anyone care to guess what the second meaning is?**

 **Anyway, read, review, and enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	8. Chapter 7: When You Regret Everthing

**LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER JOINT OFFICE OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 17 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1031**

Ruby was currently sitting across from Agent Shepard, the woman she saw as a teacher of sorts, in her office. Shepard was currently reading over a report from the psychiatrist that she had Ruby visit a few hours ago. What caught Shepards interest was the mention of the 'black beasts,' as the report put them. To the psychiatrist, they seemed to represent the horrors that she may have endures before she lost her memory, with the female figure she saw first and the eyes that followed later seemed to be possible friends and family that her subconscious mind was feeling guilty for forgetting about and was slowly trying to repair her memories. The shrink recommended to just let her continue her life as is, that she'll remember with more time. For that, Shepard was glad she didn't have Ruby go to a normal doctor. Who knows what kind of medication they would have given the young girl.

Said young girl was currently in a state of boredom and was trying to relieve it by playing with the height if her chair... while spinning. Shepard cleared her throat and Ruby immediately stopped what she was doing and sat up straighter. Even if she was facing the opposite direction.

"Ruby," the girl turned around and Shepard noticed that her hands were resting on her knees. "I'm sure that you don't want to talk about your feelings anymore, but I have to know if this will cause you any problems in the future."

"No, it won't," Ruby almost immediately replied. "My dreams and nightmares are just that. Dreams and nightmares. They might continue but they won't stop me from performing."

Shepard couldn't help a smile that came to her face as she heard Ruby's answer. She got up and decided to embrace the younger girl into a hug, despite her protests. "You really are a strong girl, aren't you?"

"You just ruined the fact that I gave a really cool answer," Ruby just puffed up her cheeks in annoyance. Shepard let out a soft giggle as she released Ruby.

"Sorry, sorry. You're just so huggable I couldn't help myself," but her giggling soon stopped and that's when Ruby knew that it was time for more serious talking. "Ruby, could you follow me somewhere?"

Ruby nodded her head in confirmation. Seeing this, Shepard reached under her desk and grabbed the box that held the items Ruby had on her when they found her. "I think it's time we figured out what," Shepard opened the box and reached inside to pull out a metallic, red-box-looking item. "This is."

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER JOINT TRAINING AREA 010, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 17 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1115**

They were now in a more open area in the forest that was on base, which the ground forces used to train, because Ruby had suggested it. She had no idea as for why other than 'just a feeling' she had. The number of people had increased from just Ruby and Shepard to include Agent Wellington, Brigadier General Monro, and Staff Sergeant Steel, who was no longer in his 'family man' mode and in his 'soldier' mode now, along with a few member of Bloodhound squadron. There were few others that there that Ruby didn't know the names of but if the people she did know trusted them, then she would as well. They were also kind enough to lend her a PT uniform, so she didn't have ruining her cloths.

There were practice dummies set up all throughout the area they were in but they were currently in front of a row of them that were lined up as targets. Okay Ruby, just breath... In... Out... In... Out... In... Out... just imagine that they're not there. Ruby lifted up the item that was hers and clicked a single switch that started a transformation of the box.

One end came out towards her shoulder to give her a stock that she could rest her shoulder on. A handle, that was angled, with a trigger also popped out while the stock was coming out. The length is now was felt comfortable to her in her hands, like it was made for her. A scope came out from the thinner, top side of the box and had a magnification that would make it an effective sniper. All in all, it looked like an impressive rifle that was able to compact itself for easier carry.

Time to show them what your sweetheart can do, Ruby was so focused that she didn't bother to notice the oddity of what she thought. So she raised the rifle to her shoulder, aimed down the scope, evened her breathing out, and kept where everyone else was in the back of her mind.

When she pulled the trigger a loud bang was heard and all the spectators were expecting Ruby to fly away from the recoil. But she didn't. She had hardly moved at all. The first shot had missed every target and a large patch of dirt flew up instead.

Ruby herself wasn't expecting that much recoil, which caused her to miss, but she quickly felt like she would be able to handle it the next time she pulled the trigger. She quickly lined up her sights for the next shot, pulled the bolt back to chamber the next round, and pulled the trigger the trigger again. The bullet tore through the dummy and created a hole, the size of a person's head, right dead center of the target... and through a tree or two... or three.

While most of the those watching her were impressed by the significant improvement in her aim and the fact that she wasn't blown away, due to her tiny frame, one man had a different thought. All Harken Steel could think about was why a girl who was so innocent and carefree could use a rifle that could shoot out a .50 calibre round and hit the middle of a target like it was nothing.

Ruby had repeated this process a few times until she ran out of ammo on the first magazine. That is when everyone in attendance saw something that none of them would ever forget.

Ruby hit the same switch and the rifle extended out from the front, making it several feet longer. The bottom unfolded, moved down, locked in place, and unfolded again to reveal that a blade had been made into it and was curved like a crescent moon. On the top of the rifle, following the the extension, two small hooks came out the opposite side of the crescent blade. The stock straightened out with the rest of the former rifle and a small dagger like blade came out the end.

When the transformation was finished those watching were in awe and fear that the small five foot two inches, one and fifty seven centimeters, girl was using a war scythe that was seven foot two and a half inches, two hundred and eighteen centimeters, long and four foot two and a half inches, one hundred twenty seven centimeters, wide.

A war scythe.

A.

Fucking.

War.

Scythe.

No one in attendance had ever seen, let alone heard of the oversized gardening tool, actually be used by anyone. It was suffice to say that they were all stunned at the sight, not to add the fact that the rifle was also a scythe. But to Ruby, it just felt natural to hold the scythe in her hands, like how it was just natural to breath and to walk. The scythe was an extension of herself, it wasn't just a tool.

Then Ruby dropped the empty mag and loaded the next one. She got into a sprinter like stance and held the scythe's blade behind her. She burst forward with speed that was almost a blur to the untrained eye, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake.

The only reason most found where she was next was due to the sound of the blade of the scythe hitting against a practice dummy and not going all the way through. Ruby quickly rectified that by ducking underneath the dummy's 'arm,' which dug the blade across its 'chest,' and plating her feet onto its 'back.' She pulled the trigger and used the recoil to tear through the dummy and send her flying across the field and slicing off any 'limbs' that she happened to fly by.

Ruby came to a stop by plating the head of the scythe into the ground, pivoting herself around with the momentum, and firing another round to boost herself. The next dummy she came across was bisected from the 'hip,' with the top half flying into the air. Ruby didn't go back into a fighting stance, instead she planted the end of the scythe into the ground and leaned on it and had alook of dissatisfaction on her face.

I don't get it, Ruby thought to herself. When I first held it and when it first transformed into a scythe, I was really happy... but against these training dummies, something just feels... off. Like they should be moving and fighting back or something. She sighed and had the scythe revert back to its compact mode and she put it onto the small of her back... and fell to the ground the second she let go.

Her face flushed red tue instant she heard it hit the ground and tried her best to look like she meant to do that when she turned around to face the crowd. When the silver eyed girl turned around to face them, she was confused as to why some of the looked wide eyed. If it wasn't for the fact that they were trained to maintain a military bearing, all of their mouths would be hanging open as well.

"Ummm..." Ruby scratched the back of her head nervously. "Did I do something weird?"

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 17 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1300**

The silence was awkward riding back with Shepard. Ruby was sure, by now, that what she had done at the practice field was weird. Shepard didn't know what to say to Ruby nor was she able to ask where she learned to do that because of her amnesia. So the silence was very awkward indeed.

"...was what I did really that weird?" Ruby asked in a voice that was so soft, one would've thought it belonged to a mouse.

"No," Shepard was starting to form her words carefully lest she causes some emotional or mental damage. "...It was unusual." Ruby visibly deflated at that. "But it's not uncommon for martial artists to do stunts most cannot perform." Saying that seemed to have made Ruby relax more and easing away the silence. And I think it only made the Brass want her more.

"Hey Shepard..."

"Yes Ruby?"

"I'll do it."

"Do what?" Shepard could honestly say she was confused for a second before the gears in her head started turning.

"I'll go and become a Warrant Officer," Ruby declared with a determination of steel. So much so, that when Shepard looked in the rearview mirror to see a fire in her eyes.

"What brought this about?" She was truly curious as for why Ruby decided to drop this bomb shell now.

"I meet someone yesterday," Ruby started to stare out the window. "They helped me relax a lot. To the point where I was having a lot of fun and forgot about my problems."

This was news to Shepard. She normally didn't try to pry into Ruby's private life but this was the first time that she has mentioned anyone outside of the people who are connected to the base in some way, shape, or form.

"Right before we left each other, he asked me a question." Shepard focused on the fact that Ruby said 'he.' "It made me think and I came to realize something. That even if I can't remember my past right now, one day I will. I might even get to meet the people I used to know. But for right now I shouldn't focus on that because this world is so big and wonderful, that I might miss everything along the way. So I decided to take a step in a new direction and see where it would take me."

Shepard had to force herself not to sigh in relief. Instead she let a smile grace her face and simply said, "I'll let General Monro know."

* * *

 **LOCATION: STEEL FAMILY HOUSE, DIMITHION, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 21 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 0945**

"Are really sure about this Ruby? It's too late to change your mind," Lilith asked Ruby for the hundredth time.

Ruby nodded her head. "I'm sure. I don't want to be a burden on you guys anymore."

"Ruby Rose," Lilith placed her hands on her hips and spoke with a stern voice. "You are not a burden to anyone in this household. And our door will always be open to you."

Ruby hugged Lilith in a tight embrace. "Thank you... Aunty Lilith." Ruby mumbled the last part softly, but the Steel matriarch heard it and that sent her brain overload from cuteness. Lilith returned Ruby's hug with one of her own that all her daughters joined in on.

"Ruuuby~ don't go," Luna sobbed out each word with snot running down her nose.

"You're too cute to join the military with all those big smelly men," Lily was attached herself to her hip as her eyes turned into faucets.

"Who else will I have to treat like the little sister I never had?" Aqua may not show it often, but she really did care about Ruby and was probably the worst off of the three sisters.

"Get off of her you four. She has places to be," Axel said in a depressed, monotone voice. He was the most emotionally stable of the four children. But he was still deeply saddened by her choice of leaving them, not that it was his place to make her decisions though.

The women of the household reluctantly let go of Ruby and she was free to grab her single bag that she had packed. Ruby had wormed her way into all of their lives and no one was all too happy about her all too sudden departure.

"Ready to go?" Harken asked Ruby. He still had not forgotten what he had seen a few days ago of Ruby's scythe skills. He could honestly say that he was both impressed at the skill and scared of the reason she had to learn it. But he would still treat her as if she was one of his own daughters.

Ruby nodded her head and gave her 'sisters' one last hug. She even gave Axel a hug as well.

"Stay safe Ruby."

"I'll try... big brother." Axel gave a small smile at that and ruffled Ruby's head affectionately.

"I'll see you guys later," and with one last smile, Ruby left the Steel household.

* * *

Harken looked at the crying heap that was his wife and daughters and he couldn't help but let out a sigh. He supposed it could be worse.

"Axel," he looked towards his son.

"Yeah," Axel replied in his still monotonous voice.

"Go grab the liquor from the garage, the good stuff. I think after today we all need some."

"Even though it's not even ten in the morning yet?"

"It's five o'clock somewhere."

Thus the Steel household was loud and rambunctious for the rest of the day, even well into the night.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 001, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 21 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1857**

Ruby had spent most of her day waiting. Waiting for people. Waiting for paperwork. Waiting to swear in. And now waiting on the bus to get to the area where they conducted Basic, at least for this base. There was only one other base that she could have been sent to for Basic, but she for sent here.

Probably because of General Monro, she thought to herself. Ruby had had a much time to think to herself today, and she thought about her near two months worth of memories. For the most part, they were not as happy and cheerful as most people would have thought due to how she acted. It was actually rather depressing with most of it consisting of her thinking that she was either abandoned and unwanted or how she lost her memories in the first place.

But now she had a chance to leave that all behind her and start her first step in a new adventure. One she chose for herself. And one in which she would make sure that nothing happened to those who helped her.

The sun was beginning to set and she thought back to the conversation she had with Diego and how she still hasn't had the chance to pay him back yet. And as she looked out the window, that is when she saw him.

The bus came to a stop and everyone was forced to get out as fast as possible to stand on the yellow foot markers where everyone was suppose to stand. Standing in front of them, with his back to the sunset making had to tell what he looked like, stood a man wearing a campaign hat and a crisp looking set of BDU's. A piercing gaze ran over everyone in the silent formation, a gaze that told them all that in his eyes, they were all equally worthless.

It was at this moment that Ruby Rose regretted every decision she had made. Ever.

* * *

 **What is this?!!?!?! 2 chapters within a 24 hour period!!! INCONCEIVABLE!!**

 **But I really did feel bad about making you guys wait for so long for the last chapter, so I whipped this up as fast as possible**

 **Because**

 **A, I need to end the prologue arc.**

 **B, I do feel bad about making you guys wait, and C, to start getting into the actual story with planes and Ace Combat.**

 **Also, I needed to get Crescent Rose in here and didn't give it the best performance, in my opinion with what I was trying to go for. Thus why I also had Ruby be dissapointed.**

 **Either way, read, review, and enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	9. Chapter 8: Basic

**LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 001, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 22 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 0545**

"WAKE UP! MOVE YOUR ASS'S!" Lights snapped on as the older trainees in Basic woke the Flight up.

Ruby's silver eyes shot open the second the lights came on and she just stared at the ceiling for a second. That's right... I'm really doing this now. She then proceeded to get out of bed and put her get ready as fast as possible. Short shower with every other woman in her Flight, hair as dry as possible, thankfully it didn't need to be in a bun due to how short it was, deodorant, and cloths. All in less than five minutes.

"COME ON LADIES! THE MTI WANT YOU ON THE WALL AND DOWNSTAIRS YESTERDAY!"

All Ruby could think of was how long these next eight weeks were gonna be.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 001, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 22 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 1323**

Ruby's entire Flight had just returned to their room after receiving their uniforms and eating lunch. She had also seen her Brother Flight's transformation of before after they had their head shaved. They also had to learn how to make hospital corner fold with their bedsheets. That took what seemed like a hour to learn for if it was wrong by the smallest detail, the MTI would rip all the bedding off and tell them to start over.

Right now they were all clipping excess strings off if their uniforms. With nail clippers. It was not only mind numbingly boring, it was tedious as well due to the fact that there were plenty of strings that needed to be clipped. Just as it was designed to be. No matter how many times she went over her just one of her tops, there always seemed to be more strings to cut. It seemed to never end. And that didn't include cleaning up the mess that the strings made that they would have to clean up, otherwise they would get yelled at... again.

Ruby let out a sigh as she started on her next top to clip strings. The girl, no... young woman, who slept next to her brought her chair over and started to clip strings next to her... on Ruby's bed. The young woman had ashen blonde hair, that was borderline white, violet colored eyes, a fair complexion that was reminiscent of snow, and a body that very well proportioned. If Ruby remembered correctly her name was...

"Hey, I'm Helvetika," the now dubbed Helvetika introduced herself as she held out her hand.

Ruby grasped the other woman's' hand, "Rose, nice to meet you."

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 001, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 23 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 0915**

"So if you were to die, Heaven forbid, while in service, who would you like the four hundred thousand to go to?" A civilian lady asked as she typed away on the keyboard, filling in Ruby's previous answers.

"...well I'm kinda an orphan," Ruby lied sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head. Shepard had told her that when they created her I.D., they put that she was orphaned after the Ulysses Disaster.

"It says here," the woman replied. "That a family took you in. Are you sure you don't want to give it to anyone?"

"...can you give it to Harken Steel," it wasn't a question so much as it was her decision. "He would know what it means if that much money came into his account."

"That I can do sweetie, that I can do."

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 001, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 29 JULY 2002**

 **TIME: 0630**

"When I go to training," the MTI spoke with his chest, over the clamor that was PT, with Ruby's Flight running in formation.

"When I go to training," the high pitched and huffing voices of the woman echoed.

"People there will ask~"

"People there will ask~"

They had already been running for thirty minutes and a few people were winded, some just started to show signs of fatigue, and Ruby was just fine. She jovelly led her flight as Dorm Chief, the trainee the MTI's put in charge to lead the Flight. Below her were the Element Leaders, who were in charge at a smaller level and where in the front of the formation while she was in the back.

The jody continued on for a while longer until they had finished running and they did cool down stretches. So far, in Ruby's opinion, things were not too hard or too bad... but she has only been there for a few days.

Yesterday they had all gotten several vaccines to boost their immune system and some people bleed... a lot. It was kinda funny, until they had to get what was dubbed the 'peanut butter' shot, the shot for penicillin. Who knew one shot could hurt so much, for so long. And it looked like a bruise.

But today was going to be simple. PT in the morning, clean themselves and the Dorm bays, eat breakfast, class, lunch, class, some sort of skill to learn, eat, clean, sleep. That was more or less how most of the days went so far and if Ruby had to guess, how the rest of Basic will be... It sounded really boring. Maybe she could talk with Helvetika when she can. They slept next to each other and were pretty much friends now, plus she was one of the Element Leaders so they did get to talk often.

* * *

LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 001, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA

DATE: 13 JUNE 2002

TIME: 1527

They had finally done it. Her Flight had reached week three and they had their name tapes and FCUAF, Federation of Central Usea Air Force, tapes sewn onto their uniforms. To the people who were 'on the outside,' getting name tapes and affiliation tapes may seem trivial or weird, but to the men and women going through Basic, it meant something that only those who had gone through would understand. It was a milestone in Basic, a small one if they actually passed Basic, but nonetheless it marked them as those who had made it this far.

They were also fitted for their Blues, the uniforms that look like they belong at a fancy party. Some of the women in her Flight looked like they were officers wearing their Blues, while others wished that they could wear an evening gown instead for 'it was more flattering.' Either way, it was another uniform that they had to keep clean, organized, and flush with everything else or the Dorm would be torn apart... again.

Ruby mentally sighed as she knew that it was going to happen at least once this week.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 003, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 20 JUNE 2002**

 **TIME: 1400**

This was the day. Today was the day that everyone who goes through Basic gets to experience. A once in a lifetime opportunity. Today, Ruby Rose was going to get gassed.

Some of her Flight members were looking forward to it, a few were apprehensive about it, and she had no idea what to think about it. All she knew was that, to qoute Harken from several weeks ago, 'it would be something she wouldn't want to gas the opportunity.' Ruby groaned as she remembered how bad that pun was and the headache that came with it. She wasn't able to tell if the headache was from the pun or from the fact that she saw a beautiful blonde woman doing puns and laughing at her own jokes when no one else would. Either way, she was not a fan of puns. Especially bad ones.

But going back to today, Ruby was waiting in Formation for her Element to get called to get into the gas chamber. They were in full MOPP gear and had practiced getting the gear on this morning, along with learning what to do when if a chemical attack occurs.

The only thing that Ruby could think of as the Element she was in was finally called into the gas chamber was, How bad could it be?

* * *

 **10 MINUTES LATER**

It was bad.

It was horrible.

Her skin still felt like it was burning, she was still coughing, her eyes were still tearing up, and snot was running from her nose still.

Despite the pain she was in, the bright side of this would be that her sinuses were probably the clearest they would ever be. Others were in the same condition she was, with varying levels of reaction. One person from her Brother Flight wasn't even fazed.

How the hell is he still smiling like it was nothing? Ruby was genuinely surprised at that.

As Ruby was coughing up her lungs, two people came up to her. One of them held a camera over their shoulder and the other was off to the side of the other.

"Do you mind if we asked you a question or two? It's for the compilation video," the man without the camera asked. Ruby nodded for her answer. "Great! So how was your experience?"

"I'm in pain, it feels like I'm burning, and snot is all over my face... I wanna go in for round two."

* * *

LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 002, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA

DATE: 25 JUNE 2002

TIME: 1300

"Finally!" Ruby quietly shouted to those around her.

"You sure are happy Rose," Helvetika noticed that her friend and leader looked and felt like she was about to bounce off the walls.

"Of course I am. We finally get to go to the Range and shoot. I've been looking forward to this all week," Ruby explained as she finished off her MRE she was given for lunch. Helvetika got up, which made Ruby fall, and turned around to help her friend up. They were sitting back to back and talking to each other as they ate overall having a good time.

It was the time in Basic that was called 'Warriors Week.' A week when they were in a simulated deployment area and learned many skills that most of them would probably never use but were still remembered just due to how important it was.

That morning they had marched to the shooting range, learned how to take apart clean the rifle they were given, and how to shoot properly. And now that they were done with lunch, it was finally time to shoot.

Once they got to the Range, the Cadres went over the rules of the Range once more so that no one could say that they didn't know them. The first little bit was so that they could zero in their sights, which they were using Iron Sights because they the basic of the basics, so that way when the actual shooting started, it would be as accurate as possible. If only the Cadres and the fellow Trainees knew who was shooting with them that day.

On that day, all bore witness to the sharpshooter that was Ruby Rose. She decided that it wasn't challenging enough and made a smiley face on one target that was the one hundred yard target and various other shapes with the other targets. If there was one thing that those there that day could all agree on, it was that they were glad Ruby was on their side.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER TRAINING AREA 001, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 8 AUGUST 2002**

 **TIME: 1000**

"I, state your name," a voice boomed over the speakers.

"I, Ruby Rose," Ruby said along with the chorus of others in multiple Formations.

"Hereby swear."

"Hereby swear."

"To support and defend."

"To support and defend."

"The Federation and her people."

"The Federation and her people."

"From threats both foreign and domestic."

"From threats both foreign and domestic."

"And I will obey the orders of those appointed over me."

"And I will obey the orders of those appointed over me."

"So help me God."

"So help me Oum."

* * *

"Rose, you said that no one was gonna come for right?" Helvetika asked as her family came and got her. Ruby was still standing at Parade Rest, for they were told that they couldn't go unless someone came up touched them to release them.

Today they had graduated Basic. Those last few weeks were the longest weeks of Ruby's short life, that she actually remembered.

Ruby nodded her head to answer her friends question. "Yea, I don't thi-"

""""RUBY!"""""

Ruby instantly was tackled and she felt like she was tackled three ways into next week, but for those tackling her, it felt like they had hit a wall. When she finally got a good look at who tackled her, she was happy to see that it was the women of the Steel family. She was also very confused as to why they were here.

"Umm... I'm happy to see you guys and all, but why are you here?"

"What do you mean 'why?' Of course I would come see my surrogate daughter graduate from Basic," Lilith explained as released her hug of Ruby.

"Let me rephrase that," Ruby said over and ignored the noises that were being made by the Steel sisters. "How did you guys aaand it was Harken wasn't it?" They all modded their heads to confirm what she said.

"When you work here, you tend to know a few things," Harken's voice came from behind her. When she turned around she saw Harken in his Blues and with another stripe to his rank. He was now a Sergeant First Class.

"...I guess the cloths really do make the man," was Ruby's only comment to how sharp Harken was looking. The female Steels had eyes widened at the snarky remake that came from Ruby, while snickering could be heard coming from Harken and Axel, who now decided to show up.

I guess it even affects the purest of people, was Harken's thought about what Ruby said. He was half expecting something like this but he was hoping that he was wrong as well.

"Ruby," he said when he was no longer laughing at the faces of his wife and daughters. "Want a smoke?"

"Bleh," Ruby stuck her tongue out. "I'm not that stressed out."

* * *

 **Ahhh Basic... the longest 8 weeks of my life... the first that that I had waking up on the very first day were the same thoughts that Ruby had.**

 **There was soo much that i wanted to do with this, but I opted not to for certain reasons, which is why it's more of snippets of what happened and in all honesty, bothing interesting really happens in Basic.**

 **I'm just gonna skip the Warrant Officer school, for it would just be the same as Basic, and am debating about the Tech school... but I do jeed that for something else... let me know if you giys actuLly wanna see pilot training or not for Ruby.**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	10. Chapter 9: Earning Wings pt 1

_"I can't shake her."_

 _"Blue 3, hold on! We'll ta-"_

"Red 1, Fox 2," Ruby said as a steak of fire raced across the sky from her right wing. An explosion, that was previously Blue 3, occured as she pulled back on the joystick to ascend higher into the sky.

 _"Dam it... Blue 4, Blue 5, focus on Red 1."_

She smirked a little bit as she saw two fighters break off to engage her. "Red 2, you still have my back?"

 _"Affirmative Red 1,"_ the voice of Helvetika came over the radio. Helvetika was her currant Wingman in the situation they were in and she was glad that it was someone she could trust.

"Let's split then up and focus on one of them."

 _"Roger that,_ " Ruby could hear the amusement in Helvetika's voice as she had guessed that her Wingman knew what she was planning.

Ruby aimed herself at the two oncoming fighters and pushed the throttle as far was it would go. A beeping noise rang throughout her cockpit, letting her know that they had a lock-on her. She was still smirking.

The distance between them was still vast and they made the mistake of firing their missiles too early. Ruby waited as long as she could before she released flares and rolled to the side, watching as the missiles harm flew by her and after the remains of the flares. She continued on as if two missiles had not just been launched at her and aimed the nose of her plane right in between the two opponents.

Seeing how close she was, and not firing her missiles at them, they both freaked out a little bit and veered off in opposite directions.

Just as planned.

Helvetika started to follow the one that broke off at Ruby's right and Ruby slowed down to make her turn faster to chase after the other. Once her target was visible, she pushed the throttle forward to chase after him.

It took a few seconds but she was finally within firing range. All she needed was a lock-on to finish him off.

"Come on," Ruby whispered to herself. The one she was trailing behind was keeping himself in a loop, so that she wouldn't be able to get a lock-on him. Then he made his mistake.

Her prey had decided to speed up to try to out maneuver her, this lead to his tight loop into becoming loose. Ruby maintained her speed and was able to get directly behind him.

"Almost there..." the reticle almost had a lock-on.

 _"I can't shake her,"_ Blue 4 panicked.

"Almost there..." her reticle turned red. "Red 1, Fox 2." A missile from her left wing flared to life as it closed onto her victim. They tried to use flares but it was too late. The missile was close enough so the tracking wasn't thrown off course by the time the flares activated and instead hit the engine of the enemy fighter.

 _"Damn it!"_

When she looked over, she could see that Helvetika had taken out target and the rest if her squad had finished off the last remaining enemies.

 _"Hell yeah!"_

 _"We did it!"_

 _"Good lead Red 1!"_

Ruby smiled as her squad cheered and the words 'VICTORY' came to life across her cockpit as it darkened. The door opened it and she could see her instructor's smiling face.

* * *

 **LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, SIMULATOR BAY, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 30 OCTOBER 2002**

 **TIME: 1537**

"Good job out there Rose," he said as Ruby got out of the simulator. He then went into lecture mode about everything wrong with the battle, including jer reckless charge, before he went into detail about what was right.

"Now then... we're all done with the Sims for the day. Before we go though, I do have an announcement," he paused as he looked around the room, making sure he had everyone's attention. "I've already said this before, but as of tomorrow I will no longer be your instructor. My time as a teacher is up and I can finally get out and do some real work," a few chuckles were heard in the class. "You will have a new instructor on Monday and from what I hear, he will be quite a... handful to deal with. Now, clean this place up and we can leave."

"Sir, Yessir!" Came the loud chorus of twenty pilots-in-training.

* * *

 **LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, DORMITORY COURTYARD, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 30 OCTOBER 2002**

 **TIME: 1700**

"Looks like I owe that drink tonight Rose," one of Ruby's fellow cadets said as he sat down where she, Helvetika, and a few others sat. "Guess you can consider it my birthday present for you."

"Nope," Ruby said as she popped the 'P.' "That was a bet, and you lost. My birthday present _should be_ something else." He just gave a shrug in response to her. They all laughed at his response.

It had been a little over a month and a half since she had started at the Pilot School. Out of her Flight from basic, there were a few who went to the Warrant Officer school with her but only Helvetika came with her to the Pilot School.

"So have you guys heard some of the rumors about our new teacher?" One of members in the group asked.

"No," Ruby looked curious at the man. "Is it interesting?"

"I overheard some of the higher ups talking," another one started off. "Apparently it's some big shot from overseas."

"I heard that the only reason he's coming is because they want to strengthen some relations with other countries," a third made her 'knowledge' known.

"Either way," Helvetika said. "Our Instructor said that he would be difficult to deal with. So he's probably gonna have a huge ego to go with his skills... if he has them."

Everyone but Ruby smirked at that. They were all confident in their current abilities of flying because, truth be told, they wouldn't have made it where they were at if they didn't show hard work and promise in this field of work.

Ruby had stopped paying attention a little bit ago. Something was tugging at the back of her mind. Like all of this seemed to have played out before, almost like déjà vu just... different. Ruby closed her eyes to try and think about it.

 _Maybe..._ she began. _Maybe I was doing something similar before. Or at least, had a conversation that was like this... Friends just gossiping about the new teacher they're going to have._

"Ruby."

 _I haven't seen those 'eyes' since that one time... Maybe they were who I gossiped with before._

"Ruuubbyyyy."

 _When was the last time I remembered something? I think it-_

"OW!"

A stinging sensation right in between her eyebrows had brought her out of her thoughts. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Helvetika with her arm stretched out and her fingers were in a position that let Ruby know that she was just flicked.

"Back from space now?" Helvetika asked.

"How long was I out for?" Ruby asked as she rubbed her forehead.

"Don't know," Helvetika gave a shrug. "But you were making some funny faces, so I thought that you might wanna come out of whatever it was that was making those weird faces."

Ruby only glared at her friend in response. In truth, she didn't appreciate the fact that she was brought out of thoughts but she knew that Helvetika was worried. Ruby hadn't told anyone about her... condition. So while to others it may seems like she wasn't thinking about anything serious, in actuality, she was.

"I hope you're ready for tomorrow though," Helvitla wrapped her arm around Ruby's neck. "It's gonna be a birthday party you won't forget."

 _Yeah,_ Ruby thought sorrowly. _It'll be the only birthday I can remember._

* * *

 _The shattered moon hung in the night sky. A familiar looking Dark Forest surrounded her on another winter night. A familiar red cloak draped itself around her form and guarded her from the elements that she was sure would have hindered her without the cloak. This was the same place she was the previous time and the time before that and the time before that._

 _It made her wonder why it was always this place she came to. This small Patch of snow covered land that she walked through endlessly._

 _Instead of going on the paths that she had already gone one, she decided to try and see what was in the forest around her. So, she turned and walked in the darkness that surrounded her._

 _The only sounds were that of her boots crushing the snow, her breathing that looked like a small spirit coming from her mouth, and the Crows that were following her._

 _Always the Crows._

 _Their beady black eyes watching her every move, but not judgingly. They seemed worried. Worried for what though? She didn't know. All she knew was that they were always there, even if she couldn't see them, she knew that the crows were watching her. Sometimes they even guided her to a new place. They also prevented her from going to some places._

 _She didn't understand then whatsoever, but she felt like she could trust the Crows. That they knew what they were doing. That they wouldn't let harm befall her._

 _So she continued on her endless journy of the night until she happened across a road. It was well worn and looked like no one had traveled it in years. The Crows blocked one side of the path, the path that lead towards the center of the Patch of land. She could almost hear them say 'not yet.' So, with only one option remaining, she went down the path._

 _The path was rough and long. Had it been hours already or was it only a few minutes. Time was always hard to tell in this place. The darkness grew around her but she wasn't afraid. Why should she be? The Crows were still with her. Even the glowing red eyes of the Beasts of Darkness wouldn't dare to approach her with the Crows around._

 _That was when she saw it. It was an old house, that looked more like a shack, that looked like it was ready to collapse any second. In front of it was a little red wagon._

 _Curiouser and curiouser._

 _She walked up to the wagon and peered inside. What she saw a weird to find in a place like this, especially considering the season. It was a single Rose bud. It looked as though it was just beginning to bloom and the red was standing out in the scenery that was black and white. But in front if the wagon was truly mystifying._

 _At the handle of the wagon was a small golden snake, yet it wasn't a Snake. It had the body of one but the head was slightly different and it had small budding horns on the top of its head. The Snake like creature looked worse for wear and the gaze of its burning red eyes was focused on the shack. Her silver eyes followed where the Snake was looking and saw several more red eyes staring back at them._

 _It was then that she noticed the Crows were gone for it was silent. It was only her, the Snake, and the Rose bud. She reached behind her, only to curse at the fact she didn't have a weapon. She looked around and saw that the Beasts of Darkness were coming out if the Dark Forest around them._

 _Their mouths salivated at the prey they had waited so long for. Their saliva burned away the snow underneath them. Claws glistened in the moonlight as they twitched ready to kill._

 _And they lunged at her, ready to kill her, the Snake, and the Rose bud. She quickly gathered the other two in an attempt to protect them and closed her eyes hoping it would be quick._

 _A caw sounded out from around her._

 _When her silver eyes opened she saw the Beasts of Darkness were dissolving into air and a single man stood tall. His back was facing her she against the moon light, so couldn't tell much about him. The only two things that she could see of him though were a tattered red cape that he wore and the helmet he wore was that of the Crows._

Silver eyes blinked open as she stared at her ceiling. Her pounding head hurt as the memories from the night before set in.

"Maybe I shouldn't of had that last Strawberry Sunrise..."

* * *

 **LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, SCHOOL HOUSE ROOM 128, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 02 NOVEMBER 2002**

 **TIME: 0715**

"Are you really ok Ruby?" Helvetika asked her.

"Yeah, just a weird dream from the drinks," Ruby said as she stretched her arms.

"So when's he suppose to he here?" An impatient classmate said.

"Soon," said another as he attempted to calm him down.

"I thought that he suppose to be a professional," Helvetika whispered to Ruby.

"Maybe he just woke u-"

The slamming of the door silenced all of them and had them all sitting at attention. They could hear the boots hitting the ground as he walked up from behind them.

"Damn stupid directions... it's like they expect me to know the place," a familiar voice sounded out. Ruby couldn't quite place where she heard it before but she knew that she had heard it before.

The man got to the front of the before he set his gear down and turned around to face the class. "I'll be your new instructor starting today." His head started to look at each of the students in his class. "This won't be an easy cl-" his brown eyes looked with her silver eyes. Both sets widened as they realised who the other was staring at.

""IT'S YOU!"" Ruby Rose pointed at the man in front of her and the man did the same.

"You still owe me coffee Little Red!" Larry Foulke said almost childishly.

* * *

 **LOCATION: UNKNOWN**

 **DATE: UNKNOWN**

 **TIME: UNKNOWN**

A single man laid in bed, the light hitting right on his eyes forcing him to wake up from the dream he had. It had been about _her_. He had been searching for _her_ , and so she had plagued his dreams every night.

As he looked around his room the only thing he focused on was the half drunk bottle of whiskey by his bedside. He opened it up and took a long swig that finished it off.

"I'm too sober for this shit this early."

* * *

 **Hello Hello,**

 **Welcome back to another chapter of Shattered Rose. We get to see a bit of action, even if it is a sim, and the return of a character.**

 **Ruby has another dream, one that seems very familiar. There's also another charcter at the end of the chapter that I'm sure many if you will recognize right away.**

 **This chapter was a bit shorter for her training because I think that her _real_ training will begin with Pixie here. **

**Hope you guys saw the referqnces I made.**

 **Please read, review, and enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	11. CH 10: Breaking News!

**Now then... I do apologize for the long wait. It was a mixture of me being lazy, doing a bit of research, and focusing on me/my work.**

 **If you're wondering why this is on top... well... I'll just leave tht as a surprise.**

 **Also, do you guys want the Side Story from AC4 in this? I know you just RWBY fans don't know what I'm talkin about, so it might be a treat for you. But for the AC fans, it wouldn't be much different than the game. Just some stuff added on. Let ke know what you guys think.**

 **Either way, Read, Review, and Enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**

* * *

 **LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, TRAINING AREA 59, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 01 JULY 2003**

 **TIME: 0638**

Along the perimeter of the training area there was a two man team, stationed at a lone gate that was essentially in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey," one of the said as he looked at the other.

"Yea," he friend lazily answered.

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

"Like why we're born? Or do you mean how we're stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere in the middle of the fucking night? Because either way, we signed our fucking souls away to the machine known as the military."

"...you ok man?"

"...no," the man replied with a sigh. "I just... hey... you hear that?" They both opened their ears as they both listened to what he had heard.

"Hear whaOooooh SON OF A-" his friend was cut off by the sound of wind rushing past them as a F-15C Eagle flew by overheard and the sound of the engine trailing along shortly after it. The F-15 was barely five hundred feet above the pair, thus the sound of the engine was deafening.

Their suffering was only prolonged as F-16C Fighting Falcon flew in behind the F-15, this one even lower at two hundred feet.

" _Jameson, you're flying too high,"_ Foulke's voice came over the radio.

" _But if I fly any lower than thi-"_

" _Then you'll be dead in this exercise,"_ the instructor cut off the student. " _Don't forget the point of this. There are some places where you'll have to fly low in so that you won't get shot down."_

 _Speaking of getting shot down,_ Ruby thought as she started to get a lock onto her fellow classmate, who was slowly getting lower, she was trailing behind.

" _Fuck!"_ Jameson yelled as his warning sounds came alive.

The reticle was slowly approaching the F-15 on her HUD. All she needed was a Lock-on for this to be over. Jameson was a good pilot, but Ruby was better. He would try and weave his way above the treeline and she would follow him like a bloodhound. She had to emit though, chasing him in the early lights of the day was a bit hard. Not as hard as when it was the one time it was twilight, but still hard nonetheless.

Then Ruby got a Lock-on and simply said "Fox-2." Jameson cursed and Foulke laughed at his students anger.

" _Good job Rose, but how well can you adapt to a new situation?"_

Foulke's statement had Ruby confused for a second before her alarms started to blare at her. She quickly looked around her and saw no one approaching from the horizon around her, which made her quickly look up to see a F-18 Hornet coming straight at her.

 _Sneaky son of a..._ Ruby curbed that thought as she pushed her engines to their top speed to get a bit of distance. "I thought that there was an altitude limit for this?"

" _This is,_ " Foulke began in his lecturing voice. " _But that doesn't mean it will apply to the enemy when it's their air space."_

 _Should've known he would pull something like this,_ Ruby mentally scolded herself as she did her best to lose the Pilot in the F-18. _I have the more maneuverable fighter, but this guy got the jump on me and isn't going to let me go._ It frustrated her a little bit that she couldn't lose the him and had now become the hunted. Also to add to the fact was that she had to stay below four hundred feet while the one who was chasing her didn't. Plus she couldn't use flares as an added requirement to pass this course Foulke made.

It was then that an idea came to her, a risky one especially considering what time it was, but if she could pull it off then she would be able to get behind this guy and be the huntress again. She pulled the throttle back to slow down as fast as possible and pulled the joystick back until her plane was nearly perpendicular to the ground, trying to do a hairpin turn-around, and hoping the F-18 would shoot past her.

Which he didn't.

The pilot had slowed down dramatically once he had realised what Ruby was attempting to pull and was a good distance from her, but still close enough to gain a Lock-onl. Ruby sighed as she heard the familiar phrase of "Fox-2," being spoken in an extremely familiar voice.

* * *

 **LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, TRAINING AREA 59, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 01 JULY 2003**

 **TIME: 1032**

It was after the training was over and Foulke was almost done giving his assessment of everyone. He was just leaning on the blackboard as he stared at Ruby and she was admittedly nervous. The maneuver that she pulled was not one she should have pulled at such a low altitude, but her options were very limited on what she could have done. She had also only seen it be done and had not actually practiced it.

"Warrant Rose," Foulke started and Ruby sat straightener. "Why is it that the stunt you pulled off failed?"

"I failed to account what the enemy pilot going to do. The maneuver was a high risk one that shouldn't have been done in a low altitude setting."

"What else?"

"The enemy fighter had the element of surprise and was able to capitalise on it, even though the F-16 has the better maneuverability."

Foulke nodded at her answer seemingly satisfied.

"Sir?" She asked in a weaker, meek voice.

"Yes, Warrant Rose?" Foulke raised an eyebrow as to what the young woman was about to ask.

"How was it that you were able to get these fighters into our training? Aren't we supposed to be using the T-6's?"

Foulke thought back to when he had a 'friendly chat' with both the base Commander and the Group Training Commander.

" _It'd be a real shame if these photos were to spread around," Foulke said as a playful grin came across his face._

 _In his hands were... embarrassing photos of the Base Commander and the Training Group Commander. The photos were, to say the least, something that would ruin their reputation andthe would lose all the respect of their men._

 _The Base Commander sighed as he finally gave in. It shouldn't be too bad with what he wants right? It's not like he would actively try and kill the trainees._

" _What do you want Merc?"_

 _His grin then turned into one that the Cheshire himself would be proud of._

"I know a guy," was all Foulke said as he instinctively reached for his cigarettes, but then he remembered he was inside a building and they would dock some of his pay for smoking inside. _Damn military with their damn rules._

"Also, Sir..." Foulke was a bit surprised. Warrant Rose had another question, which was rare. She usually understood most things with a good explanation and when she asked questions, they were damn good ones that most people wouldn't have thought of unless they were well acquainted with the subject. So, he motioned for her to continue.

"Well I was just wondering... who was piloting the F-18 that came in at the end?"

 _Damn... and here I thought I could get away without telling her._ Foulke let out a sigh as he thought best of how to answer who it was. If he had to be honest with himself though, just telling her who it was would be best. BUT! He had taken a liking to teasing her. It often made him wonder if his interactions with Ruby was what it was like to have a kid sister or a daughter.

"Well you see Red, it wa-"

"Everyone get out here now! Big shit is going down!" The door was suddenly opened by another trainee in a different class. A whole mass of people could be seen running behind him as they all went towards the break room.

This of course had the entire class curious as to what was going on, so they followed after him. Ruby included.

* * *

Ruby ran with her fellow Brothers and Sisters in Arms as they all races towards the break room that they all hung out in. Aside from the snacks and drinks that could be bought in there, which was all self funded by those in the Tech School, the only other thing in there was...

 _The TV!_ Ruby almost shouted it out loud when she thought about it. _What so important that everyone is running to see it?_

Turning the corner into the break room, she saw why everyone was in an uproar as she read the headlines that was on the screen.

 _ERUSEA INVADES SAN SALVACION_

" _Reports are just coming in, that early this morning, the Federal Republic of Erusea launched a massive offensive against San Salvacion."_ Footage of tanks rolling into a town that didn't look like they held any strategic importance was on the screen. The town itself looked like a typical rural town that one would visit their grandparents and spend a week there enjoying oneself.

Ground footage of planes shooting down other planes. A fighter with a yellow painted tail and wing-tips was chasing a fighter that presumably belonged to the San Salvacion Air Force before it was shot down. The one holding the camera just stood still as the jet came crashing down right on top of him, but just barely missing him. Then the screen went to static as most of the people present in the room assumed that an explosion happened when the plane crashed into the ground. Or that a piece of shrapnel destroyed the camera at the very least.

The defending soldiers were shown at a distance firing their rifles at the aggressors invading by land.

" _What the hell are you doing here?!"_

" _We-"_

" _I don't give a damn right now! Get the fuck to the Evac zone! This isn't the place for-"_ the young man was cut off by a grenade going off in the building next to them and debris clattered on top of them. " _FUCK!"_ He forcefully grabbed the reporter and the cameraman and drug them the direction they were suppose to be going in the first place.

" _The attack was unprovoked and so far, no comment from the Erusean representative in the UTO has been given thus far. Many are claiming that this is a direct result of the Ulysses Incident."_

"Well now," Ruby turned her head to see that Foulke had decided to join the rest of them in seeing what was important enough for everyone to run from his class. "Looks like I'm about to start rolling in dough."

"What do you mean by that?" Ruby asked curiously.

"I'm a mercenary Little Red. Conflict is my business, fighting is my game."

"Is money the reason you became a mercenary?" Ruby had to admit, if he did become a mercenary just for the money, then she really didn't know what to think of the man who had been her instructor for many months now.

"It's not the only reason Little Red," the man known as Pixie placed one of his hands on top of her head and gave it a good ruffle, to which she protested with a 'hey!' "I was born into conflict and not many places would hire a man with my skill set. It is an unfortunate truth for many Mercs like me, but it is one that is slowly fading as the times go on."

Ruby didn't know how to respond to the information that she was just told. On one hand, she finally had an idea of what made the man tick the way he did. But on the other, it was a sad reality that in order for him to survive, he had fight and possible kill for those who would just as easily discard him as they hired him. So she decided to turn her attention back to the TV to see if there were any clues that held her future within the broadcast.

What she saw though, made her blood run cold and her head start to feel like it was splitting open. On the screen was the aftermath of one of contested zones. The defending Salvacions were still there, waiting for the next attack, but on camera was a little girl who was being held by one of the soldiers. She looked to be no older than five years old and was clutching a teddy bear with a tear stained face and crying out for her mother.

 _All the noise that was around Ruby died out as she focused on the screen. There was nothing else there around her. Only darkness, the girl in the soldiers' arms, and Ruby herself. She heard a similar noise coming from behind her and a familiar voice with it._

" _Papa, where's Mama?" A much younger version of Ruby asked someone. This younger version still had short hair, her signature silver eyes, and was wearing the red cloak that she always saw in her 'dreams.' She was also wearing a red shirt, a grey skirt, and black shoes to complete her outfit. She looked like something out of a Fairytale._

 _The man who Young Ruby was asking knelt down and placed both of his hands on her shoulder. The man looked very familiar to her, but what she saw was blurry and she wasn't able to get a clear image of him. But one thing she was able to tell was that the man had tears in eyes and that he was trying his best to hold himself together, but was failing miserably when he was in front of the innocent, young Rose._

" _Petal... Ruby... Summer, your mom..." the man paused as he tried to swallow the lump that was in his throat. He was finding it increasingly difficult to try and be strong as he said this. "Mama isn't coming back."_

" _Why?" She asked innocently. "Is Mama busy?"_

" _She... she's just not coming back," the man answered his daughter._

" _Why's she not coming back?"_

" _She's gone away and isn't coming back."_

" _But I miss her."_

 _And that was what broke the man. He embraced his daughter into a tight hug and and the tears started to fall from his eyes like a waterfall. The Young Ruby also hugged her father, albeit in a much lighter embrace._

" _It's alright Papa. When Mama comes back we can all make cookies and she can make you smile again."_

 _The man just held onto the young girl even tighter, for she did not understand what he was trying to tell her. As he continues to ball his eyes out, Young Ruby just simply rubbed and latted his back to try and make him feel better._

" _Mama always makes you feel better."_

Ruby fell down to her knees as she clutched her head and let out a silent scream as the wolrd around her was painted black.


	12. CH 11: Crows Nest

_It was weird, she decided. It was like being a video game character where she knew what was going on, but had no control over her body. Like someone else was controlling it. And so she watched. She watched from the view of a much younger version of herself held hands and walked with the woman in a white cloak. The woman had slowed down her pace to match the shorter strides of her small form, but she didn't mind. The woman just smiled at Ruby with a gentle smile. And Ruby smile back with a big toothy grin that all children give._

 _It was hard to make out the details of the woman but there was something about her that just made Ruby feel safe. Like nothing in the whole, wide world could threaten her. Her head moved to the other side of her body where her other hand was being held by a man. His image was a bit more clear than before and she was able to make out some details. He had long legs and arms, at least from her perspective, and had an overall toned frame of body. His hair was of a dark color that she couldn't currently tell and had some stubble on his jawline._

 _But the strangest thing was that his image kept switching with that of another man. This man was bulkier than the first man, like he lifted heavy weights or was a boxer. He had blue tattooes on his arms wore gloves, unlike the other man. Blonde hair adorned his head and formed a goatee on his chin. Both men gave the same type of safety that the woman did but only one of them made her feel like jumping into his arms._

 _Ruby just wanted this... this feeling. This safety. This sense of belonging, like she had a place to comeback to. That no one judged her for what she did. This sense of... family, she decided on. She didn't want it to end. She wanted it to continue until the end of time._

 _But sadly, as all good things do, it was time to say goodbye._

 _Both the man/men and the woman in a white cloak let go of her hands and started to drift from her. Further and further they went, like they were being carried off by the darkness that was slowly starting to take over._

 _"No..." her young voice softly spoke. "MAMA! PAPA! DON'T LEAVE ME!" She tried to run after them but the darkness was thick and was intent on keeping her in place. "PLEASE," she cried out. "TAKE ME WITH YOU!"_

 _"Ruby," the womans' words were soft but they traversed the great distance between them easily and they made the Young Ruby stop struggling. "My little Petal," although she couldn't see it from the distance Ruby somehow knew that the woman was giving her a gentle, motherly smile. "It's time to wake up."_

 _Ruby stretched her arm out in one last effort to try and reach them. "Don't go," tears started to come flow from her eyes. "Not again..."_

"M _OOOO_ OOO _OO_ OO _OOM_!"

Ruby shot up in the bed she was in, gasping for air with her arm outstretched as if she was still trying to reach for the woman... her mother. She just stared at her hand for what seemed like an eternity, trying to regain control of her breathing.

The eternity was broken when she heard a cough from her left, to which Ruby slowly turned her head towards. Sitting in a chair not too far from the bed she was in, was Special Agent Shepard and all of her professional charm.

* * *

 **LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, MEDICAL CLINIQUE, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 02 JULY 2003**

 **TIME: 0754**

"Ruby."

"...Shepard," Ruby noted that Shepard didn't make use of her rank, which meant that this wasn't officially 'official.' "How can I help you?"

"..." Ruby did not like the silence that she was getting. Silence normally meant that the other person was studying her and, thankfully, Ruby had learned how to keep her military bearing.

"What happened?" It was a simple question, yes, but one that was vague enough that many meaning could be behind it. So Ruby decided to go with the truth of the matter.

"All of us in the School House were watching the news," Ruby started off." We saw the reports of how Erusea invaded San Salvacion. The tanks, the ground fighting, the dogfights in the air but," Ruby clenched her blankets as she remembered. "The last thing I remember seeing is a little girl who was crying for her mom."

"..." Shepard didn't say anything for a moment as she was both processing the information and waiting for Ruby to continue with her tale.

"That's when I..." Ruby struggled with what word she was trying to use. She knew what word she wanted to say but trying to describe it was something she could not do right now. It was like the words were on the tip of her tongue but somehow got caught in her throat, not wanting to come out. Shepard saw that she was struggling and made a simple gesture for her to try and move past what she having difficulty with.

"I guess you can say that I remembered something... I-I think I had a mom, but she died."

"What makes you think that?"

"The memory... my memory that I saw had a man kneeling down to me, a much younger me, trying to explain how she, my mom, wasn't coming back. But I guess I didn't really understand," her eyes began to water and she started to curl up into a ball. "That just made the man sad and he hugged me... I think the man was my dad. But there was something...strange."

"Strange how?"

"The im **age kept switching** ," Shepard had to raise her brow at this. Ruby had unconsciously slipped into her native tongue and had yet to realise it. " **There was a man with black hair and a man with blonde hair. Both of them seemed really nice to me and 'mom' though. I-I-I ju** st can't tell which one was **actually m** y dad..." Ruby just pressed her eyes into her knees to keep herself steady and to prevent herself from crying at the frustration she had over this matter.

"Ruby," Said girl looked to the side of her at Shepard. "I couldn't understand almost all of that."

"...sorry," the younger woman said. "What I said was that the image kept on changing."

"The image? What image?"

"The image of the man. I saw two different men doing the same thing. At first it was a man with black hair and then it switched to a blonde haired man. It kept doing that for the rest of time I was asleep."

Shepard didn't know what to do on her end. She had just come to make sure of the girls health after they got a call yesterday saying that Ruby had collapsed in class. Luckily they were able to play it off with the other students, but not the mercenary. That man, Larry Foulke, was sharp. It didn't surprise her that he survived the Belkin War if he had always been like that. But now she needed to complete the second part of why she came; to personally deliver the orders of where Ruby was going to be assigned. Normally that would be the instructors' job, but with him being a mercenary they didn't want him to see where the young pilots were heading off to.

The only reason that she was sent was because of how classified that Ruby's' very existence was. The less people who knew all the details about her, the better.

And now she needed to get the girl out of her current state... somehow.

Shepard had to take a deep breath as she decided on her course of action after a minute or two of debating with herself.

"Would you like to know where you're being assigned?"

This had caught the silver eyed girls attention.

* * *

 **LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, SCHOOL HOUSE, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 30 JULY 2003**

 **TIME: 1330**

Larry Foulke, a.k.a Solo Wing Pixie, watched as the class he taught went through their 'graduation,' as they called it. He really had to hold back his urge to laugh as he recalled what had been considered his 'graduation.' But those were different times as well as a different country. A much more war-torn country.

But for all his observing of his whole class, his eyes kept on falling onto one specific individual. Ruby Rose. The young woman who was as full of talent as she was of mysteries. Mysteries were not bad in of themselves, no, but when those mysteries involve a Suit that made his instincts scream that there was more than meets the eye, he damn well had a right to start trying to pry. If only for the sake of calming down. He's already had too many dealings with Suits that had secretes that have almost killed him dozens of times before... almost.

The young Rose seemed to be happily chattering away with her friend, Helvetika. In some ways he was happy to see her go, now he could focus in the deal he made with Phoenix. But in some ways he was sad to see her go. She had been a interesting student to teach. She had a natural charisma about her that made her classmates follow her and a talent that was only matched by one other who was close to her in age. He definitely knew that she would one day become an Ace.

It was on that day that he would fly together with the both of his students. That is, if someone didn't kill them first. Not that he thought that that was going to happen anytime soon. Nope. Not at all. He would let them enjoy today for they had survived his training and become the better for it.

Now... it was about time he collected the money from the bet he just won.

* * *

 **LOCATION: JOINT BASE CUTTER, 501ST FIGHTER SQUADRON, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA**

 **DATE: 03 AUGUST 2003**

 **TIME: 0900**

Ruby had to admit, the two individuals before her intimidated her. And she should have known that she would end up back here.

The first was a woman, a First Lieutenant, who had a slim build,a light complexion that had a tint of pink to it, dark brown eyes, copper brown hair that was in a bun, with a few strands hanging out in front of her right eye, and a scar going diagonally across her face. The scar did not hamper her beauty in any way, but it did reinforce her status as a woman who would take shit from no one. This was First Lieutenant Nagase, the Second in Command of the Flight she was assigned to. And for some reason, she seemed a bit familiar...

The other was man who had a large build, short black hair was spiked on top and short on the sides, green eyes that were like that of a Pine, sun tanned skin that almost seemed red, and wore the rank of Major. This was the man who was in charge of her Flight, Major Bull.

"Warrant Officer Rose," the Major called out to her.

She stood at attention, "Yessir." Major Bull motioned for her to relax.

"Warrant Rose, do you know The Law that we all follow here?"

"The UCMJ Sir?"

"It appears that you don't. The UCMJ is not The Law I am talking about. Neither is it the Rules of Engagement or the damn civilian laws that are stupid. What I'm talking about i The Law that all of us; Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen follow. The Law of the Jungle."

"The Law of the Jungle?"

"Listen up!" Ruby snapped back to attention. ""NOW! This is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky. And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. Do you understand what this mean Warrant?"

"Teamwork Sir?"

"What was that?"

"Teamwork Sir."

"Say it with the chest!"

"TEAMWORK SIR!"

Bull gave a chuckle as Ruby actually did it and she blushed furiously. "Well... there's more to it than that, but that is a basis of it. Let me tell you what it actually means. After that, the Lieutenant here can show you around the Squadron. Welcome to the Crows."

* * *

 _22 AUGUST 2003_

 _FCU President Robert Sinclair demands that Erusea withdraws from San Salvacion by September 14, otherwise he will sanction a counterattack. In advance of this, President Sinclair reforms the UTO—an economic alliance within the continent of Usea—as the Independent State Allied Forces (ISAF), both a military and an economic alliance._

* * *

 **Hey everybody, how ya doin?**

 **Me? I'm sweatin my ass off where I currently am. 80 at 0515, 90 at 0600, and 110 by 1000... that's not including the humidity. Which at night feels like Satan's armpit.**

 **Ah, the deployment life.**

 **Anyway, this chapter came out a day late, a buck short. I'm writing the report.**

 **I thought that with the way things left off left chapter I should start where it in the same manner. Hope you guys don't mind too much.**

 **Things are finally picking up and we are almost at the start of the game now. Now, I know I asked this before but do you guys want the Side Story in this?**

 **Also, I left a little hint on the mext project I'm working on in this chapter. If you're able to spot it, good for you. I'll give you a virtual cookie if you do. If you don't, welllll... you'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Either way, Read, Review, and Enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	13. CH 12: Starting Things Off With a Yang!

**14 September 2003:**

 _Erusea weaponizes Stonehenge and suddenly attacks the ISAF on all fronts, forcing them to retreat to the east. ISAF GHQ in Los Canas assembles an airborne strike force to destroy Stonehenge._

 _Several squadrons are deployed to Los Canas to help in the Operation._

 _The 501st Tactical Fighter Squadron sent the Crows to help._

* * *

 **LOCATION: AIRFIELD, JOINT BASE HUECO MUNDO, LOS CANAS**

 **DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2003**

 **TIME: 0300**

"Careful with those bombs! Even if they are unarmed, I'd rather not have one exploding on accident!"

Shouting.

"Check the cables properly, we don't need a mishap in the air!"

Plenty of it.

"No no no! I need the _other_ bit head not this one. It'll just strip the bolt."

Ruby watched, and listened, in amazement as Mechanics checked for the fifth time to make sure the planes were in a condition to fly, Armament personal moved around loading bombers and fighters alike with their payloads, and Fuels were fueling every single plane.

It was at a time like this that made Ruby realize that she had truly joined a military.

"First time seeing something like this Rose?" Major Bull asked from her side.

"Yea," Ruby said while still watching all the activity going on. "In a way, it's kinda incredible. Everyone working for the same thing, even if it that thing is going to hurt some people."

"Think about it like this then," Ruby turned her attention to the Major. "We may be going to 'hurt people,' as you put it, but we're trying to prevent more from getting hurt or dying... Especially the innocent."

The way he said the last part made Ruby know not to ask. Everyone had their own demons, she was no different. But what he had said struck something within her.

" _And why is that?" A girl with black hair and amber eyes appeared before her, leaning against a while with a book in her almost seemed like she was being tested by the girl before her."Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"_

" _Well, I'm hoping we all will," Ruby jovially replied. She was always happy to share her Dream with people, especially with those she was trying to befriend. "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"_

" _That's... very ambitious for a child," the girl with black hair said before her smile turned into a frown. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."_

Ruby shook her head to clear away the memory. That _was not_ her, at least... not anymore. But there was one thing that she could agree with both her past self and her Major with. She would protect those who couldn't protect themselves, and those who could. Both the civilians who were unable to defend themselves and her brother sister in arms who could protect themselves but needed someone to watch their back.

This was one of the reasons she liked Major Bull. In the month that she had been here Major Bull had her thinking, and remembering, on just about everything that he asked her. He understood that she was much younger than him and would help by giving her a general guideline of how something would work, but he never gave the answer. She would have to think for herself to figure it out. It was almost like he was a teacher that wanted his student to succeed.

"Eyes up," he told her. "We're almost at the briefing room.

As they walked through the doors that lead into the Operations Center, she shoved those thoughts and memories to the back of her mind to focus on what laid ahead of her.

* * *

"I'll keep this brief," a aged man stood before the room. He was a Colonel who had been put in charge of this operation from ISAF. Even though it was the territory of Los Canas, since they had requested for support from ISAF it was a joint operation from several countries and he was the man put in charge. "This operation will henceforth be called Operation: Thundersturck."

The room darkened as a slideshow started to show the plan if attack and the geography of the land. "Stonehenge was a planetary defense railgun originally built for destroying, and or disabling, the Ulysses asteroid," many people in the room tensed slightly at the mention of the asteroid that had practically destroyed half the world. "And as such has not only a great range but also an area that would benefit it the most."

The images showed a vast and empty desert with a large circular complex in the middle of it. In the circle were eight mega-sized artillery looking cannons that were easily the size of a small skyscraper, the cannon was probably just as long as well. They were arranged in a circle and were an equal distance from one another.

"The operation itself is simple in nature. We go in, bomb it to high heaven, and get will be twenty bombers being escorted by fighters, two squadron of fighters per bomber."

There was plenty of murmur at the part where there were two squads of fighters to each bomber, but no one said anything yet, waiting for all the details before they asked anything.

"Now, the Eruseans won't like it if we just show up and start destroying what they stole. There will be opposition along the way. It is the Fighter Escorts job to make sure nothing happen to the bombers. Intelligence indicates that Stonehenge is guarded by elite units of pilots but have no concrete details as for who are or what they fly."

"Typical from Intel," a man said quietly to himself and next to Ruby. "They know that something's there but not sure what's there."

"You all have seven hundred miles to cover and is estimated to take an hour and a half to take. Refuelers will meet you at the halfway point there and back to make sure that you all have enough fuel to last for both combat and a return trip. Any questions?"

"Do we know the size of the 'elite unit' that's guarding the target?" A man in the front asked and put air quotes around 'elite units.'

"Unfortunately, no. The Eruseans were good at keeping that a secret, even when we were able to infiltrate their borders."

"Why so many fighters to a bomber?" A woman in the back asked. "Isn't that a bit overkill?"

"It's a precaution taken in by Command. If we're able to take out Stonehenge, this war will be over before we know it. They want this operation to succeed at any cost."

No one spoke up after that.

"You'll take off at 0530. Dismissed."

The Colonel left and once he did, so did everyone else.

"Warrant Rose," Bull called out to her.

"Yessir?"

"Take a rest, eat, shit, or whatever else you need to do. Be ready by 05."

"Yessir!" Ruby saluted her superior.

* * *

She couldn't sleep, no matter how much she wanted to. There was an excitement and dread that just would not allow her to. It was going to be her first time in an actual battle and had the possibility of losing her life. To be honest, that scared her.

The prospect of losing her life that had not even truly begun. _Her_ life, this one that _she_ had chose, only started a little over a year ago. She hadn't truly begun to even explore, let alone understand, most of the world around her.

It was at the moments like these, when she was alone in bed and at her most vulnerable, that she truly wondered why she had joined. Was it because Shepard had asked her to? Because she wanted to help protect the innocents like the Major said? Was it that she had nothing else for her in this life? Or was she simply running from her own past? The fact of the matter of was that tonight was much worse than any other for the fact that she was going into a combat scenario.

As she tossed over one more time to stare at the ceiling, she truly wished that she had something, anything... ANYONE! To help her with this guy wrenching feeling she had.

 _I wish you were here... Yang..._

 _Tears stained her face and snot ran down her nose as stayed curled up in a ball on her bed. She was both really, really mad and really, really, REALLY sad. Some kids in class had decided to pick on her today, making fun of her for how much like a boy she acted and how she didn't have a mom anymore._

 _The first part didn't really bother her too much, she was fine with ignoring it and the fact that she was more of a tomboy than a girly-girl. She already knew that. But when they saw that thenteasing was not working and that was actively ignoring them, that's when they decided to step it up and start hitting at the fact her mom was gone._

 _When she showed a visible reaction to that, that is when they knew they hit a soft spot and like a rabid dog with a piece of meat, they would not let go of it. They jeered, ridiculed, and prodded her to the point of her wanting to hurt them horribly. And that was when_ she _showed up. Her golden hair as bright as the sun itself, her normally lilac colored eyes were a blazing red and filled with anger, and fists clenched, already being thrown at her aggressors._

 _Of course the teachers came to break up the fight, but not before the damage was dealt. Ruby was crying, Yang had the other kids up and had taken a few blows herself, and then all of them had to wait for all the parents of the children involved to show up. The had obviously separated them, lest another fight started, but all of them sat in an angry silence before the parents had arrived and the situation explained to them. Taiyang Xiao_

 _-Long had shown up and taken them home after all was said and done. He didn't say anything to the either of them in the car ride and had sent Ruby up to her room when they reached their home._

 _That was where she currently was as he waited for him to finish speaking to Yang. She wasn't sure what he was saying but she was expecting herself and Yang to get in trouble. But the only reason Yang got in trouble was because of her, which only caused her to cry more because she didn't want that to happen._

 _That was when her door opened and a small blonde head peeked through the door to her room. The Sunny Little Dragon was a bit bruised and had some swelling on her face, but her lilac eyes held a kindness within them that she couldn't find anywhere else in the world._

" _Ruby... can I come in?" She asked. She really didn't need to but she thought that it would be a bit polite to do so._

" _Mm," was all her response was. Yang also saw that the blankets seemed to make a nodding motion so she went inside._

 _Yang went over to her bed and sat near her head. Ruby naturally went over to her for comfort and placed her head in the blonde's lap as said blonde started to stroke her hair affectionately. They stayed like that for a while, with Yang just sitting there and Ruby crying in her lap. This wasn't the first time a situation like this had happened, but it was definitely the last time that the reason it happened for happened._

" _Thanks... Yang," Ruby said with a weak voice._

" _Don't worry about it Rubes," Yang replied._

" _You're the best sister ever," Ruby started to hug her while Yang laughed a little bit._

" _I'm your_ only _sister. Obviously I am the best," she said with a lot of pride. "But I'm also your big sis Ruby, so I'll chase away all the big scary stuff until you finish your training with Uncle Qrow."_

 _Ruby only tightened her hug._

She opened her eyes and stared at her cieling. _I giess the old me had it pretty good..._ Her eyes went to her clock and saw the tome in the red lighting that they were displayed in. _0455... better start finishing up what I need to do._

* * *

 **A bit of a shorter chapter and some more memeories, but i wanted to focus on only the combat and the end result for the next chapter. Totally not because I wanted to stall writing a combat chapter because I still suck at writing them... Nope... not at all.**

 **Either way, shit is going down and she remembered Yang!**

 **And you guys really don't like reviewing... do ya? In a way it is a bit disheartening that not many, if at all outside of the normal two who do, that you guys don't review. Reviews are a bit nice and feels like you guys are actually communicating with me, cuz sometimes you guys can have some good suggestions on things or point out something i didn't know about.**

 **Also, how did I do with the mission briefing? I had to fabricate one and I don't know how well I did with it. Please tell me what ya guys think.**

 **Anyway... Read, Review, and Enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	14. CH: 13 Klendathu Drop

**So I still suck at combat scenes and any advice would be appreciated**

* * *

 **LOCATION: AIRFIELD, JOINT BASE HUECO MUNDO, LOS CANAS**

 **DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2003**

 **TIME: 0530**

Purple began to tint the sky as the sun started its rise over the horizon. The shadows that were moving began to gain color and a solid form. The young _boy_ on the ground motioned her forward with the red colored guiding lights. The twin engines on her F-15C Eagle were already running and she gave them just enough power to get her to the VFR Hold Line of the Taxiway, just behind the rest of her Squad.

Ruby watched as of the last of the B-52 Stratofortress's took off and the F-16's began to roll out and take off. The Fleet was split between F-16's and F-15's, reason being told that it was a good mix of offense and defense. While the F-16 were a smaller and more nimble fighter, the F-15 was able to take more hits, even lose a wing, and still fly.

She remembered how Larry Foulke told her class how he got his nickname, Solo Wing, was from an incident where one of his wings was torn off from enemy fire and he was able to land his F-15 with a single wing. From that point forward, he had a single wing painted red in commemoration of the incident.

 _But then again... he did say that he had control over it..._ Ruby gave a shrug at the thought.

" _Crow Squadron, Tower,"_ a transmission came in over the radio.

" _Tower, Crow 1. Go ahead,"_ Major Bull replied.

" _You are clear to taxi onto Runway 18R. How copy?"_

" _Crow Squadron is clear to taxi onto Runway 18R, Roger that Tower."_

Engines powered up once again as her Squad taxi'd onto the Runway and went onto one of the furthest ends of it.

" _Warrant Officer Rose, Tower,"_ The Tower called for her over the Radio.

"Tower, Warrant Officer Rose. Go," she honestly wondered what they wanted with her. Her specifically. The only she ever actually talked to the people in the Tower was for clearance on Takeoff and Landing. Otherwise most of the talking was done by the Major.

" _Since this is your first official flight outside of training, you will no longer be referred by your rank. Your callsign will be Crow 13."_

"Roger that."

Once they had finally reached where they were suppose to go, she watched as one by one as her Squad took off. Ruby looked over to the right, back side of her seat. That was where the SERE kit was normally located and within the SERE kit was a pistol. Normally. What was actually there was a red, metallic box. The same one ahe had used all that time ago in from of the General. Apparently he had pulled some strings to have that there for her, for whatever reason that clearly eluded her. But it did give her some comfort in the familiarity of it.

 _Even if_ I _used to have it good, I still have people who take care of me,_ she thought as it came her turn to Takeoff.

"This is Crow 13... TAKING OFF!"

* * *

 **LOCATION: EN ROUTE TO STONEHENGE, SAN SALVACION**

 **DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2003**

 **TIME: 0743**

The flight had been uneventful so far. One of the Bombers had decided to play some music to pass the time, one of the songs that played kept on repeating the words 'Danger Zone' and another one kept saying 'Thunder' and she really enjoyed them both. So did everyone else in the Fleet. Most of the music that was played was made to get them pumped up. The only time that the music stopped was when they were at the halfway point and had to refuel mid air.

They had been at a cruising speed and altitude most of the flight, but now that they were closer to their objective they were flying lower either through or just slightly above some of the mountain ranges that were around Stonehenge. Apparently, it was so that they couldn't utilize Stonehenge against them. They all knew that was bullshit. Someone just wanted to play around in the mountains and maybe prove they were the better pilot. Not that Ruby cared for it. She really didn't want to mess around right now, something told her not to.

" _All Wings, this is Archangel. I'll be your eyes and ears for this operation. We're five Mikes out from seeing the objective. All Wings, report in,"_ a feminine voice came over the radio.

" _Gold Squadron, Standing by,"_ the first fighter squadron reported.

" _Red Squadron, Standing by."_

" _Knight Squadron, Standing by."_

" _Grim Squadron, Standing by,"_ even the bombers were reporting in.

" _Bone Squadron, Standing by."_

" _Banshee Squadron, Standing by."_

" _Wolf Squadron, Standing by."_

" _Crow Squadron, Standing by,"_ she heard the familiar voice of Major Bull call in over the radio. After she herda the Major, she tuned out the rest of the Squads reporting in to the AWACS.

It took about a minute, because of how many there were, but silence reigned once it was over. No one spoke. There was no more music to pump them up. No one tried to give a big motivational speech. They all knew what they were here to do and all of them would make sure that it happened, even if it cost them their lives.

" _You should be able to see the Target in five... four... three... two..."_

And true enough to Archangel's words, the megastructure came in sight after they passed over a mountain.

" _That thing's huge,"_ a pilot thoughtlessly commented.

" _No wonder we needed this many bombers,"_ another said with some thought.

Stonehenge itself was in a basin-like area that was surrounded by an open desert-like area. There were some small forests in the area, but for the most part it was a desert. A single, antenna-like structure was in the middle and most likely acted as a command center for the megastructure. Even from the distance they were at, which was well over fifty miles, they were able to see the megastructure. While none of the guns were seemingly active, they still made Ruby feel small. Smaller than what her height actually was. Not that she would ever admit that she was short.

" _All wings be advised,"_ Archangel herself spoke. " _Enemy aircraft are coming from the operation zone! I repeat, enemy aircraft are coming from the operation zone! You are cleared to engage."_

As soon as she finished, triangles started to appear on their radar. They had a designation next to them that read as SU-37 Terminator. The only problem was, _Seven!? They're only sending seven fighters to deal with... ALL of us!? That's_ insane, she thought to herself. Truly it was madness to only send seven against an entire fleet. Only a madman would do such a thing.

Unfortunately, these were no ordinary pilots.

 **Yellow**

 **Federal Erusea Air Force**

 **156th Tactical Fighter Wing**

" **Aquila"**

" _Qrow 13,"_ The Major suddenly called out to her. " _Since this is your first_ actual _taste in combat, stick with me and Qrow 2. Got it?"_

"Yessir," she replied nervously. She was honestly thankful for that. The nervousness that was in her stomach seemed to lessen a little bit at his words. She knew that the only reason he wanted her to stick with the two of them was because he didn't want to see her dead yet.

As all the fighters started to get closer to each other, the friendlies started to spread out more.

And that caused more gaps to appear.

Gaps which the enemy took advantage of.

They didn't fire anything and instead opted for weaving in between them. That was also when she was able to see what the Terminators looked like.

The area around the cockpit looked humped over and had a curve on both the top and bottom. It had a pair of smaller canard 'wings' toward the front, just behind the cockpit, to add extra acrobatics. Much like the F-15 it had fixed wings, a twin engine, and two vertical and horizontal, or tail wings as they are more commonly called, stabilizers on the outside of the engines. It was colored in a grey camouflage pattern with both the wingtips and tips of the 'tail wings' being painted yellow.

That was also when they had their first kill. The lead of the enemy fighters fired a single missile at a bomber. The bomber had tried to activate its flares, but it was too close when it was launched to have any real effect to draw the missle away. The bomber exploded and set off the munitions that were within, causing a bigger explosion that caught some of the escort fighters.

Luckily, it wasn't too close to the Crows. So when the Yellow's started to separate into smaller groups, so did their squadron. The others also scrambled but since there were so many of them that were flying on multiple directions, they were easy pickings for the Yellows. That wouldn't of normally been a problem but that was only if there were more on the enemy side to even things out.

The lead Yellow made a hard turn and _outmaneuvered_ a missile. That was when she saw that the lead had a yellow '13' painted onto the outside of his just below the cockpit. '13' came back around and gunned down the one who was trailing him before moving onto the wingman of the one who he had just gunned down.

The rest of the fleet wasn't faring much better either. They had already lost another three bombers, one of which crashed into another, and the fighters were outclassed by the teamwork and skill of the ones who they were fighting.

* * *

 **LOCATION: OPSCENTER, JOINT BASE HUECO MUNDO, LOS CANAS**

 **DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2003**

 **TIME: 0758**

"Sir!" A young man suddenly called out towards the commander of Operation Rolling Thunder.

"Yes Lieutenant?" He knew what he was about to report, but it was the young man's' job to do it anyway.

"Sir, Allied units have taken a 95% mortality rate."

He had been seeing it on the screen and he truly did not want to believe it but once someone had told him what he _did not_ want to hear, it finally sunk in that this operation... no, this _slaughterfest_ was a catastrophe. They had underestimated the skill of the enemy because of their lack of intel. The Brass had believed that if they used quantity over quality that they could win. And now the pilots, both Seasoned and Green, were paying the price for it.

And it hadn't even been ten minutes since they encountered the enemy.

Than man let a heavy sigh out through his nose. The entire room was quite as they awaited the orders from the man in charge.

"This operation is a failure. Order all remaining units to retreat," he said loud enough for everyone to hear, but it was still very quiet for him. _Please,_ he started to pray to himself. _At least one of you make it back here safely._

* * *

 **LOCATION: EN ROUTE TO STONEHENGE, SAN SALVACION**

 **DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2003**

 **TIME: 0800**

The continuous beeping wouldn't stop.

Her breathing was ragged. She could feel the sweat on her brows as it slowly started to roll around her eyes, and her eyes themselves felt like they were on fire. Pain laced through her skull, mostly behind her eyes and she just hoped that it would go away soon. She had long since removed the oxygen mask to give her a sense of space.

" _ROSE! FLARES! NOW!"_ Nagase yelled at her and she did not hesitate. Six brightly, burning chemicals came from the underside of her fighter and drew away a missile that had just been trailing her. She faintly heard the explosion but did not truly pay attention to it.

This was not how she was expecting the mission to go. She was sure that this was not how any of them expected it to go. Out of her squadron, only she, Major Bull, and Lieutenant Nagase were left. Aside from them, two members from Banshee Squadron and a member of Wolf Squadron- another explosion went off and Ruby could see the F-16 fall to the ground had the Wolf Squadron patch painted on. Luckily, the pilot was able to eject and a parachute was confirmed. So now it was only the three members of the Crows and the two from the Banshees.

And there were still all seven of the Yellows.

Ruby veeres hard to the right as she dogged incoming fire of the 30mm pounds passed right by her cockpit. She had to keep going in a spiral in order to not be tracked and shot down. Normally she would be the one firing and not getting fired at, but that was in simulations. This was an actual battle.

She pulled up, as she was still spiraling downward, and began to ascend in a vain attempt to get behind him. But the one who was trailing her was able to follow her completely. Ruby then cut the engines almost completely off, just enough so that she wouldn't have to restart them, and the ine who was just trailing her shot past her. The only thing that she was able to make out as the Su-37 passed by was the yellow '04' right beneath the cockpit.

Ruby reengaged her engines at max power and took off after Yellow 4. It took a few valuable sends to get back up to speed and it almost cost her to lose sight if Yellow 4, but she was fortunate enough to just barely catch up to the pilot.

Another explosion happened and she just prayed that it wasn't Major bull or Lieutenant Nagase.

 _Almost..._ Ruby thought as the reticle for her 20mm Vulcan cannon was on the tail end of the Su-37. _Just a little more._ All of her missiles were already used up, and either dogged or missirected, and she had to rely on her main gun.

" _Attention all remaining craft! Attention all remaining craft!"_ Archangels voice broke through Ruby's concentration. " _You are to fall back immediately! I repeat, fall back immediately! This operation is a failure! Return to Base."_

" _Finally! Goddamn it took'em long enough,"_ Nagase's voice came shortly after the order to retreat. Ruby would have let out a sigh if relief, but she couldn't. She was still chasing down Yellow 4.

" _Crow 13,"_ the Majors voice filled her with relief that he was still alive. " _Stop chasing the enemy and start to get the hell out of here."_

Ruby put her oxygen mask back on and replied with a "Yessir." She broke from her game of cat and mouse to fly in the opposite direction.

She saw Nagase's plane far off to her right and let out the sigh of relief when she was her Second-in-Command. Ruby was about to radio her when she saw a hail of cannon fire rain down from above Nagase's F-15 and tore the cockpit to shreds.

"...eh...?"

There was no scream, no last radio transmission, no ejection... There was nothing that told the silver eyed woman about what had just occurred. Just a bright, fiery explosion that engulfed the entire fighter.

"...Na...gase...?" Ruby could not process what just happened. The woman who had been training her for the past month, the woman who had taught her just as many tricks as Larry Foulke did, the woman who had taught her the ins and outs of military life was suddenly gone. Her already ragged breathing started to pick up even more as she realised that t was only her and Major Bull who were left fighting.

" _Crow 13!"_

" _Crow 13!_

" _Warrant Rose!"_

That finally got Ruby's attention as her head to face forward and she saw Major Bull's fighter coming towards her. The continuous beeping her warning buzzer also finally registered in her head. And she was all out of flares to use.

* * *

Time seemed to slow down as Bull's fighter passed by her. He had flown over her and inverted himself so that he could have a good look at his subordinate. He had only known her for a month and he could tell she was a good kid.

 _Well after this she wouldn't be a kid any longer,_ he thought. _And since it's come down between the two of us, she's younger and I've had my fill of life... Maybe she'll be able to create a better future than what we have for our kids._

He saw how Ruby looked up to him as he was passing by her and knew that she must feel fear for what was going on right now. All he was able to do was salute her as he passed her and hopefully get the Yellow's attention away from her long enough for her to escape. He could practically see her silver eyes widen when he saluted her.

He flew in front of the missile that was trailing Ruby and used the last of his flares to throw off the tracking. Bull took one last deep breath and flew towards the enemy formation, knowing that he'd soon see his wife and daughter.

* * *

No!

There was another explosion from behind her and she knew that she was now all alone in enemy territory.

No, no, no, no!

She pushed her engines to the max to try and get out of the area as fast as she could. Ruby glanced back and saw only one of the Yellows was going after her and it scared her.

It scared her to death. It had only taken these seven to destroy almost an _entire_ fleet. Only she was left.

No bombers.

No fighter escort.

No Crow Squadron.

No Luienant Nagase.

No Major Bull.

And soon, it there would no longer be her either. Her life would end here without finding out anything that she truly wanted. The lives lost would be in vain. Her death would be in some far off land without, all alone, and without the comfort of those she was close to.

 _No..._

The burning in her eyes intensified.

The warning buzzer sounded again.

She would _not_ accept it!

She would make it back!

She would see _them_ again!

She would make it back home! Back to Be-

The world went white.

* * *

 **LOCATION: OPSCENTER, JOINT BASE HUECO MUNDO, LOS CANAS**

 **DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2003**

 **TIME: 1927**

"And that's all you can remember?" He asked her as he looked at the papers in his hands.

 _Hold them back._

"Yessir," Ruby flatly said as she finished her Post Action Report. She had a bandage wrapped around her head but her eyes no longer felt like they were going to explode.

The man before her looked extremely exhausted and if that's how he looked, she can only imagine how she herself looked. Although he was the commander of Operation Rolling Thunder so she could understand why he was in the current state he was in.

"Relax... Lieutenant."

Ruby did her best to not show the shock that she felt when he called her of a rank that was not hers. "Sir, I'm not Lieutenant. I'm-"

"Well you are now," he said as he tossed her a pair of silver bars. "Not only are you the only survivor of this failed... 'operation,' but you were also promoted in the Field because of this. This also allowed for a step promotion and you were able to skip past Second Lieutenant and go straight to First Lieutenant. "

"But don't I need some fancy degree to be an Officer?"

 _Hold them back._

"Normally yes," he stood up and walked out from behind the desk he was sitting at. "But in times of War there are some muscles that those of high rank are able flex. This is one of them."

Ruby was dumbfounded, to say the least. This was something that she _never_ expected would happen. She had no planes on becoming an officer, or really staying in past her contract for that part. So she just stood there awkwardly as he put a hand on her shoulder as he walked by to leave the room, all forms of Customs Courtesies forgotten between the two of them.

"Congratulations on the promotion, Lieutenant."

"Thank you sir."

 _Hold them back._

"There's a C-130 that's going to take you back to your country. Be outside in the next half hour, there'll be transportation to take you to it." he opened the door but paused for a second before exiting. "Also, for the next twenty minutes there will be no one else in this side of the building. No one will hear anything."

"Thank you sir."

The door closed after he left and the water works began as Ruby fell to her knees, crying about everything that had happened today.

* * *

 **September 14, 2003–September 2004:**

 _Erusea weaponizes Stonehenge and suddenly attacks the ISAF on all fronts, forcing them to retreat to the east._

 _ISAF GHQ in Los Canas assembles a airborne strike force to destroy Stonehenge. The operation fails; all but one aircraft are shot down by Yellow Squadron._

 _Stonehenge was temporarily disabled do to the sudden appearance of a large amount of ice that covered a portion of the megastructure._

 _Los Canas surrenders days later, and ISAF performs a massive retreat off of the continent._

 _ISAF creates a new HQ at North Point, a large island off the northeast of the Usea continent._

* * *

 **So now all the ground work had been layed out and the true stroy can begin. Thanks for waiting this long.**

 **Like I said... I still suck at combat scenes and when it's suppsose to be large scale like this... just makes it harder. It's part of the reason as for why I cut out the majority of it and more focused on the smaller combat action.**

 **Ruby did use her Silver Eyes, but since there's not much known about them, I get to make more shit up... like most of this fic.**

 **Brownie points who know the origin of the chapter title and know what it means**

 **Anyway, Read, Review, and Enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	15. Ch 14: Press Start, Enter Player 2

***watching Six monthers go home from deployment*: I feel like I forgot something...**

 ***training the new guys to take over*: and it was a bit important...**

 ***leaving after 8 months*: but what was it...**

 ***on leave home in California for my little sister's birthday*: ...I'm sure that I'll remember it soon..**

 ***sleeping on my bed in Homestation*: zzzzzzzzzzz**

 ***wakes up to a loud noise and something getting uncomfortably close to a certain part of my body*: (-^-;;)**

 ***opens eyes up to see Crescent Rose's barrel aimed right at me*: 0_o**

 **Ruby: Write. *chambers her beloved* Now.**

 **...hai, Ruby-sama...**

* * *

 **Amidst the blue skies, a link between worlds and from the past to the future.**

 **The sheltering wings of the protector and the shattered remains of a fairy tail.**

* * *

 _I was just a child when the stars fell from the skies. But I remember how they built a cannon to destroy them and in turn how that cannon brought war upon us._

 _War was an abstract idea; nothing more than a show on TV. As a child, I only saw it as something the happened in some far-away land. Until that final day of summer..._

 _One day, while on my way to school, I looked up in the skies. A sound like distant thunder. In the blue skies far above me, contrails drew dizzying  
circles around in a crazy waltz; a battle in the beautiful skies far away. _

_I could not tear my gaze away from them._

 _A deafening roar._

 _Sharp silhouettes appeared, as if to graze the hills, and streaked past me. The fighters played the cat or mouse in turn as they climbed swiftly into the sky. One fleeing plane fell out of the sky, spiraling and spewing orange flames to crash by the cape._

 _The same cape where my family lived._

 _Now they only live in my memories of days past. The victor circled around to confirm the kill, and on his craft there was a large number thirteen, emblazoned in yellow. I will never forget this._

 _The Allies retreated across the ocean before the onslaught of the enemy. Our little town in the heart of the mainland fell into deep isolation._

* * *

 **LOCATION:** _ **FORT GRACE,**_ **FCU AIRCRAFT CARRIER, NORTH POINT**

 **DATE: 19 SEPTEMBER 2004**

 **TIME: 1350**

The black lenses of her aviators kept the sun from shining into her eyes as she stared out across the ocean. A sense of peace overcame Ruby as she just relaxed there, leaning against the railing and not having to worry about anything at the moment. She had the top half of her flight suit tied around her waist and the sleeves of her shirt were rolled up, which showed the tattoo she had inked on her upper shoulder within the past year.

The tattoo itself was of a rose being coiled by a yellow snake-like dragon, with the dragon's head being on the end of the stem and pointing downward while the petals of the rose were pointing upward, and surrounded by a murder of crows that numbered twelve in all. Each of the crows represented her squadmates that she had lost in her first mission because she didn't want to forget them. Or the colossal failure.

"Hey did you hear?" She heard a voice somewhere to her right.

"Hear what?"

"The 118th got a new member."

"Didn't they all get shot down by the Yellows recently?" Ruby stiffened and her eyes narrowed when she heard the mention of the Yellow Squadron.

 _So much for relaxing,_ she snidely thought.

"Yeah, but apparently he was due in right as they left. So now he's the only member."

"Damn that must suck... being the only pilot in an entire squadron. At least it wasn't a total failure like the operation to destroy Ston-" she heard the sound of a hand clapping down on someone.

"Shhhh! She's right fucking there!" The first voice, not so quietly, whispered.

She clenched her fists as she pretended to ignore what they said. She truly did hate it how everyone tiptoed around her when they brought up Operation Thunderstruck. At first she was alright with it because she didn't _want_ to talk about it, but now she just hated how everyone treated her and the subject like glass. It also didn't help that some people treated her like the plague and avoided her. The only people who approached her were higher ups and those in her squadron, but even then it was mostly for business and not just to talk about everyday stuff. But how _everyone_ knew what she looked like and her name was beyond her.

Ruby pushed off the railing and decided to walk back inside the carrier, directly past the two who had been talking. They stiffened up and went a bit pale as she approached and sighed in relief when she walked past then without doing anything.

"Why is she even here? Isn't she Air Force? Not Navy?"

"Hell if I know what the Brass is thinking. Above my paygrade. But she's one of the few remaining pilots left, so she's gotta have some skill. Right?"

 _What is it that Yang would say? ...That they're weak? No, that doesn't sound right..._ Ruby thought back to the few memories that she had remembered about her older sister. Then she shrugged when she couldn't think of anything that could help her. _Meh, whatever. I'm sure that som-_

The alarms on the ship started to blare.

" _All pilots, report to your planes! I repeat, all pilots report to your planes!"_

"Shit!" Ruby ran inside to go one level down to the hanger. _If I remember correctly it's a left here then a right and I'll be there,_ she thought as she ran through the tight corridors of the carrier. As she ran into the hanger, she unrolled her sleeves and put her flight suit on properly, and finally she looked upon the only type of planes that they had onboard.

It was a twin engine powered jet that had a single tail wing and two angled stabilizers on the outside of the engines. The fixed wings were angled towards the ends of them. The nose of the plane was straight until it hit the cockpit, which was a dual seater, and the large rectangular intakes on the side, just before the wings began. This naval blue colored aircraft was the F-4E Phantom II.

"What the HELL are these old things even doing here!? I thought the E model couldn't take off from carriers!" She grabbed at her head in frustration and leaned back as she yelled. "Not to mention that they decommissioned these things ten years ago... they _must_ be desperate if they're pulling them out of retirement."

"Rose! Catch!"

She quickly looked to her right and saw a bag flying towards her. Ruby caught it and opened it as fast as she could to put on the equipment inside.

 _Questions later, work now!_ She grabbed the helmet with and ran to the F-4E that had her Crow on it. When she got inside one of the two cockpits she could already see that the radar intercept officer, or RIO for short, was already in the back seat.

"Everything's good to go for take off Ma'am," the young officer said.

"Thanks. And don't call me Ma'am," the RIO looked a bit confused at this. "I work for a living." Ruby had been wanting to say that line that all those who were enlisted wanted to day at least once. But now that she was commissioned, she really couldn't say it. And she did get a laugh out of the RIO's expression so she guessed it was worth it, especially since she wasn't a desk jockey.

As she was giggling to herself, Ruby put on her helmet and threw the gear bag where it was suppose to go. The directional guide motioned for her to go to the lift for take-off and she inhaled before she exhaled, releasing all that she was just thinking about and started to focus on the task at hand.

Ruby got onto the main deck as saw as another Phantom II that had what looked like a pointed eight as an emblem take-off. Then she was guided to the end of the carrier, where a holding attachment was for her plane, and a plate was raised behind her plane.

" _Crow 1, you are clear for take-off."_ Ruby powered up her engines to the maximum output and when they reached a certain speed, the holding attachment let go and she started to move across the deck.

 _This is actually a lot scarier than it seems,_ she thought as the end of he carrier quickly approached. When the Phantom II dropped a little bit after clearing the deck, her heart skipped a beat as she thought that something went wrong and she was going to plummet into the ocean. As the Phantom II started to fly normally, her heartbeat returned to normal and she let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding. _If that's what take-off is like, I can't wait to see landing on a carrier is like._

* * *

When Ruby was up in the sky with the rest of the pilots who were launched, she grimaced at how few pilots were in the air. There were only six of them. Herself, the new guy from the 118th with the eight emblem, two guys from the 71st, and two guys from the 709th.

 _It's not even that were short on pilots,_ she returned her attention to the skies around her. _It's just that those damnable Yellows._

" _AWACS here. Callsign SkyEye. Do you read me?"_

"Roger that SkyEye," Ruby replied.

" _Afirm,"_ another pilot said.

" _10-4 good buddy,"_ someone said in a weird accent.

" _Roggg,"_ came a lazy voice.

" _Yessir,"_ someone said with a yawn.

" _You, from the 118th,_ " SkyEye called out. " _Since this si your first sortie your designation from now on will be Mobius 1. How copy?"_

" _10-4. Mobius 1, reporting in,"_ Ruby swore that the voice of the now dubbed Mobius 1 sounded _hauntingly_ familiar, she just couldn't place where she had heard it before. And it was frustrating her.

" _Alright, listen up. Several of our early warning systems were destroyed and allowed Tu-95 Bear Bombers, by our count six, and their escorts to get through. It's my birthday today, so the best gift you guys could give me is taking these party crashers out."_ Ruby chuckled a little bit at SkyEye. He seemed like a good person to her.

Then she saw blips on the edge of her radar and her silver eyes hardened.

 _Two of them. Must be the tip of the formation and a 'pointman,'_ Ruby thought as she saw the rest of the formation begin to pull away from her. _One of them is a Bear_ _and the other one is a F-5 Tiger II._ She pushed the throttle forward and went in a straight line towards closest target.

The Tiger II broke off from the Bear Bomber and started to intercept her. The Tiger II was very similar in design to the F-16 and Ruby thought that it must have been what the F-16 was disgeinged off of. It had two fixed wings, two horizontal stabilizers, and a single vertical stabilizer but the two main differences between the F-5 and the F-16 was that the F-5 had a twin engine instead of a single engine and that the nose seemed to be longer on the F-5. And the F-5 had Air Inlets on both sides of the main body.

On her HUD, the red diamond for a Lock-On appeared and started to track it's way to the F-5. SInce they were both going straight still, it didn't take long and she fired at the same time the F-5 also fired. Not waiting until the last possible moment, Ruby deployed her flares and barrel rolled out of the way. Luckily for her, the missile went for the flares.

Unluckily for her opponent, they got hit. A fiery red-orange explosion engulfed them and their radar signal was lost. As was the signal of the Bomber. Ruby checked the skies around her and saw that the bomber was on it's way to meet the ground, with Mobius 1 flying past the wreckage.

 _Not bad for a nugget,_ she mused to herself.

Blips appeared on her Radar again and everyone took off after them.

* * *

The fight between the fighters was an encompassing cloud of smoke trails, hot lead, and very high amounts of concentration. Every friendly fighter had to make sure that they were not going to hit one another, hence why they used codes like 'Fox-2,' to both indicate what type of missile they were firing and so that other friendlies could plan accordingly.

There was a point where she was chasing down one of two MiG-21bis, a fighter that looked like it was a turbine engine with wings, a cockpit, and weaponry on it, and she nearly got nailed by friendly gun fire.

And as any person in the military would do, she politely told them to get their eyes checked when they were done... except she said it more in a way that her Drill liked to say things... well in a way most Enlisted said just about anything. Either way, the words fucktard, to get ready for a shit sandwich, or to prepare their pucker factor once they landed. Not at all did those words come out of her mouth.

Nor did she use a knife hand in the middle of a combat situation to get her point across.

Nor did the RIO behind her pale when she did not make nonexistent threats that she had based off of what her Drill may or may not of said.

The kill count was mostly attributed to her and Mobius 1, with her mostly going after the fighters and Mobius 1 going mainly for bombers before he helped clean up the fighters. She had killed one of the bombers and two of the fighters while Mobius 1 had killed three of the bombers and one fighter. The last two bombers and two fighters went between the rest of those who sortied with them of off _Fort Grace_ , which she was currently landing on.

The tailhook of her aircraft snagged the arresting gear on the carrier and her F-4 quickly decelerated, almost making her hit the panels in her cockpit. It took a moment to get to the correct speed that she should be at but when she was, she was directed to the elevator that had recently come back up. Gently pushing the throttle forward, she put her jet onto the elevator that lead to the hanger.

That was where she saw Mobius 1 getting out of his cockpit and taking off her helmet. He had hair short, sandy blonde hair and a it was still able to look a bit messy. But when she saw his eyes, his azure blue eyes that Ruby got lost into, did it finally click on who it was.

"Diego?"

* * *

 **I really do apologize for the months long wait. Originally I was just gonna take a two week brake along with my other story to give myself a breka since i just finished up Arcs on both of them, but then it turned into a few weeks, then a month. Then I had this half written for several weeks and when I went to bed at a stopping point and went to pick it up the next day, I just couldn't write. No matter how much I tried to some up with anything, I just couldn't for a long while.** **So I figured that I would give myself a bit of time away to try and come up with something, for I truly did have writers block.**

 **I would like to thank all of you,except for one person, for being patient with me and my writing. I am back at Homestation now and I did have things I had to do here as well, but I do have more free time than when I was deployed... to a certain degree. I have also been replaying Shattered Skies... _a lot_.**

 **To that one person that is a guest... I don't leave fics for dead or abandon them. It may take me a while to do things, but I will always finish what I start.**

 **Read, Review, and Enjoy**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


	16. Damn I hate these

**I honestly didn't want to post this but I figured that you guys deserve to at least hear from me and why I've been absent for 7 months now.**

 **OK, so... as many of you can tell, this isn't a proper update. I have been working on Chapters for all my stories, those published and those not published, but have made little headway into them as of late. December I just took of because it's December; Jaunary was busy due to Deployers coming home; Febuary I moved; March had a funeral that had some important people coming; April was a test for promotion; May was for a PT test; I've been had to get my pay corrected this month as well as deal with my roommates crazy GF who thinks she can throw her weight around the apartment we live in even though she doesn't pay bills, tries to get me to clean up her mess of dishes all the time, and is now pregnant...**

 **Suffice to say, I've been a little bit busy. Do not worry though for I still am writing, even if it is bit-by-bit.**

 **You can all expect something in the near future and this will be deleted once the chapeters start going up again.**

 **BTW, I'm beta-reading a TitanfallXRWBY story... that dude needs it and has been helping me get more done in the sense that it's been pulling me back into writing.**

 **So I do apologize to you all and thank you for your patience with me.**

 **Stay Frosty,**

 **SP4R**


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